DLC Blog

New Alzheimer's Prevention

Scientists are now developing a kind of glowing dye to help diagnose early signs of the Alzheimer's disease. The dye binds itself to areas of the brain affected by the disease and gives off a fluorescent glow that can be seen and analyzed by a brain scan.

Currently, the only way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease is to observe the symptoms, and even then doctors can only be positive after the patient has died. This fact makes it difficult for scientists to determine the effectiveness of treatments, since they cannot accurately monitor the brain's reactions to these potential treatments.

Unfortunately this new technology is not quite ready to be put to use. Scientists say that the wavelengths still need to be slightly longer, closer to the infrared region. But scientists are hopeful that this will allow them to better diagnose and treat this serious disease.

Posted by Lindsey at August 31, 2005 01:20 PM in Science.