Bambi Eloriaga-Amago
Alzheimer’s Disease, according to the Mayo Clinic website, is “a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions… These changes are severe enough to interfere with day-to-day life.”
At present, patients are only diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when the symptoms begin to show. But at that point, it may be too late for the patient as obvious symptoms indicate that the brain has already suffered some damage from the disease. Thus, early detection of the disease before the symptoms manifest themselves is vital. This could lead to medication that could slow down or even stop the development of Alzheimer’s.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Monell Chemical Senses Center are currently conducting studies on lab mice to see if Alzheimer’s can be detected using urine samples. The research shows that genes that mutate and lead to the disease also create changes in the composition of urine. More importantly, the changes in the urine can already be detected even before the development of brain damage.
While the experiments have only been conducted on mice, if the same holds true for humans, an early way to detect Alzheimer’s would indeed be a very welcome development.
