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Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., Part of Study on Alzheimer's

Posted on: Tuesday, 2 November 2004, 18:00 CST

Nov. 1--Mayo Clinic Jacksonville is participating in a $60 million, five-year public-private partnership to study the progression of mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease.

The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative will attempt to track the progression of memory loss from its earliest stages, which could help researchers and clinicians develop new treatments and monitor their effectiveness, as well as lessen the time and cost of clinical trials.

The study, sponsored in part by The National Institute on Aging, will take place at nearly 50 sites across the United States and Canada.

"This study is to document in elderly cognitively normal people the rate of change in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease," said Neill Graff-Radford, principal investigator for the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville arm of the study. "Can we show that not only does memory get worse at a slower rate but that the degeneration of the brain slows down as well?"

Neuroimaging research has suggested that serial magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, or positron emission tomography, or PET scans, may serve as better measures of disease progression than the assessments now typically used, Graff-Radford said. For example, as Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment progress, areas of the brain involved with memory shrink. Using the high-resolution images produced by MRI, researchers will evaluate the best ways of measuring this volume loss.

PET scans of people with Alzheimer's disease show that glucose, which is the brain's fuel, is metabolized at lower levels in certain parts of the brain than in healthy people. Earlier studies have shown that low glucose metabolism can be seen in some people even before noticeable symptoms of memory loss occur.

Some patients also can volunteer to have blood and spinal fluids tested during the study.

Investigators are scheduled to begin recruiting about 800 adults, ages 55-90, in April to participate in the research. About 200 cognitively normal older individuals will be followed for three years, 400 people with mild cognitive impairment will be followed for three years and 200 people with early Alzheimer's disease will be followed for two years.

MORE ON STUDY: For more information on participation in the Mayo Clinic arm of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, call (904) 953-2677.

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Source: The Florida Times-Union

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