The brain at rest can tell you about the risk of Alzheimer’s disease

When a person is relaxed and does not perform any tasks, his brain still rebuilds the connections between different zones. Scientists call this phenomenon “neural flexibility.” In a healthy brain, such adjustments help to better cope with stress and maintain cognitive functions. But research has shown that flexibility increases too much in people with Alzheimer’s disease — and this can be a wake-up call.

According to the lead author of the work, Eleanna Varangis, the brain constantly organizes itself into functional networks in order to be ready for different tasks. However, in dementia, this process occurs too often, which may indicate a malfunction. Interestingly, even in apparently healthy people, excessive flexibility in the visual areas of the brain predicted the risk of developing the disease in the future.

The study included 862 elderly participants: some were healthy, others had mild cognitive impairment, and some had already been diagnosed. The results showed that the extra flexibility of the brain clearly distinguished the groups and helped to understand which of the healthy participants would move into the risk category over the following years.

The unexpected discovery was that the visual network was particularly sensitive to changes. Usually, these areas are affected by the disease in the late stages, but it was they who gave the first hints of impending dementia. Scientists suggest that the fact is that the visual areas remain relatively young longer than others and therefore show more adaptability.

Although the method is still far from clinical application, the researchers see promise in it. With the help of functional MRI, it will be possible to detect the disease at an early stage, when there is still a chance to slow down its progression and maintain independence for longer.

“It’s important to remember that the brain is an incredibly flexible organ,” Varangis notes. — Even when a person has the first memory impairments, the brain is still looking for new ways to compensate for the losses. This gives hope that early intervention can help millions of people.”