Unmasking the hyperactive circuitry of early Alzheimer’s

Neuroscientists at King's College London have pinpointed a mechanism behind the increased neural connectivity observed in the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

The research, funded by Alzheimer's Society and conducted in brain cells of rats, showed that low levels of the protein amyloid-beta could induce hyperconnectivity and this pattern closely resembled changes seen in the brains of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Amyloid-beta is thought to be instrumental in Alzheimer's disease, where it creates plaques – or sticky clumps of amyloid-beta proteins – around the neurons.

These new findings suggest that low levels of amyloid-beta alone are enough to trigger early, disease-relevant changes in how brain cells connect.

Previous research has found that the number of connections (synapses) between neurons in the brain increases during the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease, and it has been shown that these initial changes correlate with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in patients. MCI is characteristic of the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, prior to widespread cell death and memory loss.