A study led by researchers from the Hospital del Mar Research Institute has identified that the deterioration of the blood-brain barrier, which regulates exchanges between blood and the brain, can serve as a marker to predict which Alzheimer’s patients will have more rapid degeneration.
The work, published in the journal Alzheimer’s
The blood-brain barrier is a network of blood vessels and semipermeable tissue, which regulates what should or should not pass into the nervous system: thus, it allows the passage of substances such as water, oxygen, carbon dioxide and general anesthetics to the brain. (which regulates the central nervous system), but instead blocks large molecules, immune cells and potentially harmful or disease-causing substances, such as viruses.
To study whether the blood-brain barrier serves as a predictor of the progression of Alzheimer’s, researchers followed more than 300 patients for four years.
“We have analyzed whether the destruction of the barrier can be associated with a different prognosis in patients with cognitive impairment,” the first signatory of the work and researcher at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Albert Puig-Pijoan, explained to Efe.
“The novelty that we have seen is that in patients with Alzheimer’s or other degenerative or cerebrovascular diseases, or with a mixture of them, patients with a worse barrier and, therefore, with an increase in its permeability have a more unfavorable prognosis for evolution. “, has added.
In the patients analyzed, the risk of accelerated disease progression increases by 8% for every 10% increase in barrier deterioration.
The status of the blood-brain barrier can be determined by an indicator found in the cerebrospinal fluid, which is removed by lumbar puncture.
Puig-Pijoan has detailed that the study still needs to be expanded to have more precious data, but everything indicates that this advance could be useful for prevention – it would allow us to know in advance the progress of the disease – and to design therapies that are aimed at preserving the structure of the blood-brain barrier.
