Learn how PET scans help detect the onset of Alzheimer disease
Learn how PET scans help detect the onset of Alzheimer disease
Learn about brain scanning technologies used to track the onset of Alzheimer disease.
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Transcript
DR. WILLIAM JAGUST: We can now very reliably and with a great deal of accuracy say that there are changes in the brain during life that are very highly predictive that a person is going to have Alzheimer's.
These are PET scans from three different people, a person with Alzheimer's disease, a normal older person who has no amyloid in the brain, and an older person who has a lot of amyloid in the brain. The question of course is how can one person have so much amyloid and have Alzheimer's and the other had the same amount and have no symptoms? We think that one of the big differences is the amount of tau in the brain.
EXAMINER: I want you to tell me as many of the words as you can.
JAGUST: We recruited three groups of subjects, a group of young subjects, a group of normal, healthy older people, and a group of individuals with Alzheimer's disease. And we gave them tests of their memory to examine their cognitive abilities, basically.
SUBJECT: Subway, giraffe, zebra.
JAGUST: And then we studied them with a PET scan for amyloid and a PET scan for tau. The way these PET scans work is essentially we take a molecule. It's labeled with radioactivity. We inject it into a person, and it goes to the brain and binds to either the amyloid or the tau protein. It sticks and allows us to make an image of how much tau there is in the brain and what parts of the brain it is. These green areas are areas of the brain where tau gets deposited as we get older. They're also the parts of the brain that are involved in memory function. These red of the brain are areas where the tau begins to get deposited as amyloid accumulates in the brain, and this is where we begin to see individuals developing cognitive difficulties that are more than just memory. These blue areas are areas of the brain where tau gets deposited in individuals who have Alzheimer's disease. These dark-blue colors indicate really no tau in the brains of these young individuals. These colors become hotter like yellows greens there's more tau, and in these individuals with Alzheimer's disease, the red colors indicate lots of tau throughout the brain.
Three, two, one, go.
ASSISTANT 1: Scanning.
JAGUST: With PET scanning now, we can study people over time. If we can look at people, say before they have dementia, and we know how much amyloid in the brain and how much tau is in the brain, we might be able to get a sense of their sort of stage or their progression towards Alzheimer's disease, and that may be crucially important for when we give them certain kinds of medications.
ASSISTANT 2: This instance is going to be canceling this out.
JAGUST: To me, the ability to look at these relationships during life is just phenomenal. If this approach works it will be very exciting, and we'll have a therapeutic intervention, I hope, for Alzheimer's disease.
These are PET scans from three different people, a person with Alzheimer's disease, a normal older person who has no amyloid in the brain, and an older person who has a lot of amyloid in the brain. The question of course is how can one person have so much amyloid and have Alzheimer's and the other had the same amount and have no symptoms? We think that one of the big differences is the amount of tau in the brain.
EXAMINER: I want you to tell me as many of the words as you can.
JAGUST: We recruited three groups of subjects, a group of young subjects, a group of normal, healthy older people, and a group of individuals with Alzheimer's disease. And we gave them tests of their memory to examine their cognitive abilities, basically.
SUBJECT: Subway, giraffe, zebra.
JAGUST: And then we studied them with a PET scan for amyloid and a PET scan for tau. The way these PET scans work is essentially we take a molecule. It's labeled with radioactivity. We inject it into a person, and it goes to the brain and binds to either the amyloid or the tau protein. It sticks and allows us to make an image of how much tau there is in the brain and what parts of the brain it is. These green areas are areas of the brain where tau gets deposited as we get older. They're also the parts of the brain that are involved in memory function. These red of the brain are areas where the tau begins to get deposited as amyloid accumulates in the brain, and this is where we begin to see individuals developing cognitive difficulties that are more than just memory. These blue areas are areas of the brain where tau gets deposited in individuals who have Alzheimer's disease. These dark-blue colors indicate really no tau in the brains of these young individuals. These colors become hotter like yellows greens there's more tau, and in these individuals with Alzheimer's disease, the red colors indicate lots of tau throughout the brain.
Three, two, one, go.
ASSISTANT 1: Scanning.
JAGUST: With PET scanning now, we can study people over time. If we can look at people, say before they have dementia, and we know how much amyloid in the brain and how much tau is in the brain, we might be able to get a sense of their sort of stage or their progression towards Alzheimer's disease, and that may be crucially important for when we give them certain kinds of medications.
ASSISTANT 2: This instance is going to be canceling this out.
JAGUST: To me, the ability to look at these relationships during life is just phenomenal. If this approach works it will be very exciting, and we'll have a therapeutic intervention, I hope, for Alzheimer's disease.