Is high metabolism an early sign of Alzheimer's disease? Study finds

Researchers from Karolinska Institute have identified a potential early sign of Alzheimer's disease - a metabolic increase in the hippocampus, a region of the brain. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, affecting thousands of people each year. The researchers used mice to observe metabolic changes that occurred in the brain during the early stages of Alzheimer's development.

The increase in metabolism in young mice was followed by synaptic changes caused by disruptions in the cellular recycling system known as autophagy. Detecting metabolic changes may offer a diagnostic factor for the early detection of Alzheimer's before the onset of symptoms, and it could be essential for timely intervention with emerging treatments.

The researchers noted that these metabolic changes could be observed before the accumulation of characteristic insoluble plaques in the brain. The study analyzed the hippocampus and used RNA sequencing to identify active genes during different stages of the disease, revealing that increased mitochondrial metabolism is one of the early indicators of Alzheimer's disease. The findings provide valuable insights for early intervention methods for this debilitating condition.

The study was published in Molecular Psychiatry and was conducted in collaboration between two research groups at Karolinska Institutet.

Reference: “Mitochondrial hypermetabolism precedes impaired autophagy and synaptic disorganization in App knock-in Alzheimer mouse models.” Luana Naia, Makoto Shimozawa, Erika Bereczki, Xidan Li, Jianping Liu, Richeng Jiang, Romain Giraud, Nuno Santos Leal, Catarina Moreira Pinho, Erik, Berger, Victoria Lim Falk, Giacomo Dentoni, Maria Ankarcrona, Per Nilsson. Molecular Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1038/s41380-023-02289-4