Iron levels in the brain show cognitive declines in people with Parkinson's

Researchers from the Dementia Centre of the London Institute of Neurology found: the level of accumulated iron in the brain can be evaluated by the degree of neurological disorders. It is primarily about the deterioration of memory, thought processes and motor functions in Parkinson's disease. Specialists emphasize that to date, no reliable methods have been proposed to track cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease, and problems are often found only at a late stage, when most of the brain is destroyed. 

Recently, experts in the field of age dementia have been paying increased attention to the processes of iron accumulation in the brain. This element is found even in the central nervous system of young people, but as we age, its concentration increases. The aim of the British neuroscientists' study was to find a connection between iron accumulation and the level of toxic proteins in the brain.

The study involved 137 people - 100 of them had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease during the previous ten years, the rest were healthy and were part of the control group. All participants were tested to assess their memory, thinking speed and motor function. The results were then compared with information on iron content in the brain: its level was determined by MRI.

It was found that there was a direct correlation between the concentration of iron in the brain and the degree of cognitive and motor function impairment. According to specialists, this method will help to identify neurological disorders at the earliest stages, which will allow measures to slow down the progression of both cognitive and motor disorders in Parkinson's.