New imaging scan reveals a culprit in cognitive decline of Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer's disease
PET scan of a human brain with Alzheimer’s disease. Credit: public domain

Advanced imaging technology developed by Yale researchers has helped them confirm that the destruction of brain synapses underlies the cognitive deficits experienced by patients with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published Feb. 17 in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

For many years, scientists have assumed that the loss of connections between brain cells caused Alzheimer’s-related symptoms, including , but actual evidence of the role of synaptic loss had been limited to a small number of brain biopsies and post-mortem brain exams conducted on patients with moderate…

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