Brain Study Unlocks Roadmap to Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease

Emory researchers are one step closer to unlocking the complexities of Alzheimer’s Disease, this time, with the aid of a super high-resolution instrument. Their findings are published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

The researchers used a novel technology called “metabolomics,” which studies the small molecules (like sugars and amino acids) that remain in the body after a metabolic response, to study 162 brain tissues donated by patients to the Emory Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center brain bank after their deaths. They were able to characterize more than 35,000 metabolomic signatures in brain tissue—almost 30 times more than what has previously been detected—as well as 155 metabolic triggers and 36 metabolic pathways (a chemical reaction in the cell) associated with Alzheimer's disease.  

They then used advanced statistical and analytical approaches to confirm the identity of 18 key metabolites strongly associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Glucose and adenosine 5′-diphosphoribose were two of the molecules that stood out as holding possible promise to better understanding Alzheimer's disease.

What Does This Mean for Alzheimer’s Research?

“Our findings provided us with a biological roadmap of what's really happening in the brain,” says Donghai Liang, PhD, associate professor of environmental health at the Rollins School of Public Health and corresponding author on the paper. “This study helps us uncover some of these hidden critical changes in the chemical or small molecule level in the brain that could point to new targets for future therapeutic treatment or that could be useful for earlier detection tools or for personalized precision treatment strategies.”

In addition to replicating what other people have found, the researchers were able to identify novel metabolites that no one has ever looked at in relation to Alzheimer's disease.

“This could explain some of the diversity in Alzheimer's disease that hasn't been fully understood yet,” says Anke Hüls, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology at Rollins and first author.

What’s Next?

The research team will be looking at available blood samples from the brain bank donors to see if the molecules identified in the brain were also present in the blood.

“It means that if we can identify some common markers in both the blood and the brain, perhaps we can use this marker for earlier detection or more precise treatment in the future,” say Hüls and Liang.