<<snip>>
high accumulation of iron in brain tissue
causes oxidative damage and formation of plaques found in age-related
neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer disease
<<snip>>

Public release date: 24-Mar-2006
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-03/uoc--mso032106.php

Contact: Dan Page
d...@mednet.ucla.edu
310-794-2265
University of California - Los Angeles

MRI study opens door to assessing, preventing dangerous brain iron
levels

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study at UCLA opens new doors to
assessing and potentially preventing brain iron accumulation associated

with risk of developing degenerative brain diseases such as
Alzheimer's,
Parkinson's and Dementia With Lewy Bodies.

Posted as an early online publication of the peer-reviewed journal
Neurobiology of Aging, this largest-ever study of brain iron
demonstrates
gender difference in brain iron levels for the first time. Until now,
researchers had considered the brain blood barrier as protection
against
accumulating too much iron from the body. The finding suggests instead
that age-related brain iron accumulation is a modifiable risk factor
for
degenerative brain diseases.

In addition, the study finds a nearly perfect correlation between iron
levels in various brain regions of study participants measured using
MRI
and those reported by past post-mortem studies. The finding
demonstrates
the ability of MRI analysis to accurately measure iron levels in brain
tissues of living patients.

Previous studies have shown that high accumulation of iron in brain
tissue
causes oxidative damage and formation of plaques found in age-related
neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer disease. In addition,
past
population studies show men develop such diseases about five years
earlier
than women but brain iron levels increase with age in both genders.

"If you can measure it and learn how to modify it, then you can fix
it,"
said Dr. George Bartzokis, lead author and professor of neurology at
the
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Alzheimer disease rates
double
every five years after age 60, so a modifiable risk factor assessed by
non-invasive means may represent potential interventions that could
halve
the number of cases of AD in the United States."

The UCLA team measured iron stored in ferritin molecules in the brain
tissues of living subjects with MRI by using the Field Dependent
Relaxation Rate Increase (FDRI) method. Iron was measured in four
subcortical tissues, three white matter regions and the hippocampus of
165
healthy adults, ages 19 to 82.

In addition to the nearly perfect correlation between published
post-mortem brain iron levels and those measured by FDRI, the study
found
that men have significantly higher ferritin iron than women in two
subcortical regions and all three white matter regions.

The team also found significant age-related increases in ferritin iron
in
the hippocampus and three of the four subcortical regions, and
decreases
in one white matter region.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-03/uoc--mso032106.php

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