Tool Kit Designed to Help Diagnose Dementia

With the risk of developing dementia growing at a disturbing pace, investigators are working to develop a miniature diagnostic toolkit in the hopes of stimulating earlier detection and treatment.

The collaborative research project, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (Arlington, VA, USA) for up to US$600,000 over three years, will use nanoparticles on a chip about the size of a credit card to detect damaging levels of oxygen byproducts in the central nervous system.

The byproducts, known as reactive oxygen species (ROS), are key contributors to serious neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The development of new analytic tools for speeding up diagnosis and treatment of these disorders is vital to slow their growth, reported lead researcher Dr. Hyoung Jin Cho, an associate professor of mechanical, materials, and aerospace engineering at the University of Central Florida (UCF; Orlando, USA) and a researcher at UCF's NanoScience Technology Center.

The number of individuals with dementia, which is the primary precursor to Alzheimer's, will nearly double every 20 years, reaching 65.7 million in 2030 and 115.4 million in 2050, according to the 2009 World Alzheimer Report from Alzheimer's Disease International. The report, issued in September 2009 in recognition of World Alzheimer's Day, calls for making the fight against the disease a national and global priority. "This research shows significant potential for better understanding the role of ROS in neurodegenerative diseases,” said Dr. Cho. "Once we have a clearer understanding of the role of ROS, we may be able to address more effective treatments.”

Existing tests have several disadvantages. They are only able to detect limited numbers of significant byproducts at a time; they require time-consuming and labor-intensive processing; and they do not work fast enough to keep up with the short lifespan of most of the byproducts.

Dr. Cho has previously developed a microfluidic mixer and a miniaturized electrochemical sensor for "lab on a chip” applications that would allow scientists to perform multiple analyses on one miniaturized chip. He reported that the ROS assessment tool would be developed on a similar platform. What will make the ROS detector unique is the use of nanoparticles to help detect the high oxidative stress that has been identified as one of the earliest indicators of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Dr. Cho partnered with Dr. Sudipta Seal, director of UCF's NanoScience Technology and Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Centers, who has researched rare earth cerium oxide nanoparticles for years. Dr. Seal has found them to be effective at everything from treating glaucoma to cleansing fly ash from smokestacks.

Because the nanoparticles behave like an antioxidant, protecting cells from oxidative stress, they can effectively serve as an indicator of ROS, according to Dr. Seal. Together with Dr. Diego Diaz, a NanoScience Technology Center and department of chemistry faculty member, the researchers are collaborating on the study with a group led by Dr. Lee Goldstein, an associate professor at the Boston University School of Medicine (Boston, MA, USA).

Related Links:
University of Central Florida
Boston University School of Medicine