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A team of researchers from the United Kingdom and Slovenia claims that certain breathing patterns and brain activity may be indicators of Alzheimer’s disease.
How Did the Scientists Discover This?
One of the team’s primary goals was to investigate how brain oxygen saturation is linked to neurodegenerative diseases. The researchers compared brain oxygen saturation levels, heart rates, brain wave activity, and respiratory efforts in 19 patients with Alzheimer’s disease and 20 participants without the diagnosis (the control group).
The analysis revealed differences in neurons associated with blood vessels, as well as variations in blood oxygen levels during neuron activation.
In patients with Alzheimer’s, the synchronization of blood flow and brain activity was significantly disrupted. Moreover, the researchers were surprised to find that these patients had a higher breathing rate compared to those in the control group: 17 breaths per minute versus 13.
This may be a result of changes in the connection between the brain’s blood vessels and deeper nerve tissues, which ensures a rich supply of oxygen.
“This intriguing discovery, in my opinion, is revolutionary; it could open up an entirely new world in the study of Alzheimer’s disease,” noted co-author Aneta Stefanowska from Lancaster University (UK). She believes these findings will help medical professionals more accurately detect and better treat inflammation in the brain, and in the future, prevent severe forms of Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers emphasized that diagnosing the condition only requires attaching electrical and optical sensors to the scalp. Blood or tissue samples are not needed. This means the detection method is cheaper and faster than many other diagnostic options, as reported by Science Alert.
While the unique aspects of breathing alone are currently insufficient for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease, studying breathing patterns in future research will help create a more comprehensive picture of the disease’s symptoms.
This supports the hypothesis that Alzheimer’s disease is caused by dysfunction in the brain’s vascular system, leading to reduced efficiency in oxygen supply and the removal of toxic substances.
“The vascular system and the brain work together to ensure the brain receives enough energy. In fact, the brain requires about 20 percent of the body’s total energy consumption, despite weighing only about two percent of total body weight,” noted neurologist Bernard Meglič from the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia).
The study’s results were published in the journal Brain Communications.
