Study: Level of Magnetite in Body May Aid Alzheimer's Diagnosis

Detecting levels of the mineral magnetite in the body could be used to spot Alzheimer's before the symptoms of dementia appear, according to a study reported in the on-line issue of the Royal Society's Biology Letters.

Early and accurate diagnosis of the disease could one day allow patients to benefit from new treatments and to make long-range life plans, acocrding to researchers from Keele University in the United Kingdom.

In a small study, researchers found that concentrations of magnetite, a magnetic form of iron ore, were higher in the tissue of a three women who had Alzheimer's disease than in three women with normal tissue.

Study author Dr Jon Dobson, of the university's department of biomedical engineering and medical physics, said the researchers will next examine male samples to see if a similar correlation exists.

"Looking three or four years down the line, we would hope to have enough data to develop a diagnostic tool by modifying MRI scanners to look for accumulations of magnetite in patients," Dobson said.

Although elevated iron levels are associated with many types of neurodegenerative disease, the researchers said little is known about the form that this excess iron takes in the body.

Other sources: Keele University