Tractography of the central olfactory pathway in prodromal Alzheimer’s disease

The diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is currently made when the criteria for dementia are met, i.e. when the cognitive deficits are severe enough to interfere with the person’s autonomy. Thus, it is important to find early markers of Alzheimer’s disease in order to be able to intervene before the dementia stage, in prodromal stages of the disease. Olfactory impairment may be an early marker of the disease, the impairment being present in the mild cognitive impairment stage, a stage between subjective cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. On a neurological level, no study have evaluated the central olfactory pathway within the mild cognitive impairment stage of the disease.
The objective of the study is to compare the central olfactory pathway integrity between people within prodromal stages of Alzheimer’s disease and a healthy older adult group. This study will be the first to assess white matter integrity within central olfactory network within individuals at risk of developing AD. Our results could lead to the development of of new clinical tools for early detection of AD dementia that will combine behavioral measures (olfactory and memory tests) and neuroimaging measures (white matter integrity damage).

Faculty Supervisor:

Johannes Frasnelli

Student:

Partner:

Harvard Medical School

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Program: