What your pupils can reveal about your genetic risk for Alzheimer’s

My husband has always been extremely worried about the possibility of ending up with Alzheimer’s. And, who could blame him? As a teenager, he watched as the disease slowly stole his grandfather’s memories until the man he had always looked up to could no longer recognize my husband, his own grandson, his wife of over 50 years, or anyone else in the family. I think one of the things that worries him most is the idea that the same thing could happen to him without him even realizing it since testing for Alzheimer’s is currently non-existent, extremely expensive, or incredibly invasive. Since Alzheimer’s begins to alter and damage the brains of victims’ years or even decades before the first symptoms begin, this lack of knowledge means that the critical window when early treatment could actually make a difference is lost. But, thanks to a new study by researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine that may no longer be true… Screening for people at increased genetic risk In fact, the study, published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging , was able to demonstrate that simply by watching the pupils of someone who is at higher genetic risk of Alzheimer’s while they’re taking cognitive tests is a viable and completely non-invasive way to screen for the disease. Here’s why… In recent years, researchers investigating how Alzheimer’s disease begins and the path it takes have keyed in on two primary causes: the accumulation of protein plaques in the brain called amyloid -beta and tangles of a protein called tau. They’ve been able to show that both of these factors are linked to damage and death of neurons in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, resulting in progressive cognitive issues and memory loss. However, one of those factors is […]

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