Retinal imaging technology for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease

alzheimers
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia in the U.S., with approximately 5.4 million currently affected and an estimated 16 million by 2050. Damage to the brain from Alzheimer’s disease occurs years before patients exhibit symptoms. Attempted therapies have been unsuccessful largely because there is no measurable indicator—or biomarker—for Alzheimer’s disease before it is already symptomatic and advanced.

The eye’s retina is considered the developmental extension of the brain and can be accessed non-invasively. In a recently published study in the ACS Chemical Neuroscience journal, University of Minnesota Professors Robert Vince and Swati More researched a…

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