Early Warning

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting millions of people worldwide. There is no cure but recent advances in brain scanning techniques may result in better diagnosis, so that symptoms can be treated more effectively and the quality of patients’ lives improved. In experiments on mice, genetically modified to develop a condition similar to Alzheimer’s disease, innovative methods of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) made it possible to detect microscopic bleeds and changes in water retention in brain tissue. These are warning signs of more serious brain malfunctions caused by the formation of plaques, pictured here in sections of brain from the mice. As the brain ages (top to bottom), light plaques, stained red, and then heavier plaques, yellow, can be seen forming around the healthy brain tissue, blue.

Written by Mick Warwicker

Mick Warwicker

Writer

A freelance communications consultant and writer, Mick specialises in science and education. A science graduate and award-winning print and broadcast journalist, he was Head of Communications at Newcastle University from 2000–2011.

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• Jan Klohs
• ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Attribution license
• Published in PLoS ONE 8(6): e66097