Infrared Imaging Illuminates Alzheimer's Disease

A study from Lund University in Sweden and Synchrotron SOLEIL in France published in Advanced Science details an infrared imaging method for examining the molecular structures in neurons affected by Alzheimer's disease, reports Technology Networks . The optical photothermal infrared spectroscopy technique is designed to study the protein structures within nerve cells, without resorting to chemical processing of neurons typical of other imaging procedures. "The structure of the protein changes in different ways depending on where in the nerve cell it is," said Lund University's Oxana Klementieva. "So far, there have been no methods that can produce these types of images, giving us insight into what the first molecular changes in neurons actually look like in Alzheimer's disease." The researchers previously demonstrated that early structural changes of beta-amyloid occur before amyloid plaques appear. They have applied the new method to image neurons impacted by early-stage Alzheimer's in mice before they die, which is vital when mapping the disease mechanisms. Klementieva thinks this also can be employed to study protein structures associated with other diseases that target the brain, including Parkinson's disease, Lewy Body dementia, and frontal lobe dementia.