AD/PD 2021 | Brain dark matter: a biomarker for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease

Satya VVN Kothapalli, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, shares the findings of a study investigating in vivo detection of neuronal loss prior to detectable atrophy as a new biomarker for early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) detection. Quantitative Gradient Recalled Echo (qGRE) MRI was used for in vivo evaluation of neuronal loss in human hippocampus in healthy controls and preclinical and mild AD patients. The qGRE method identified neuronal loss associated with impaired AD-related cognition not recognized by morphological measurements of tissue atrophy. This interview took place during the AD/PD™ 2021 conference.