Scientists have been able to detect Parkinson’s disease years before symptoms appear using the eyes
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Using eye scans, scientists were able to detect early signs of Parkinson’s disease. They can be noticed 7 years before symptoms appear, writes Science Alert. The conclusions were obtained by a group of scientists from Great Britain after three-dimensional scanning of the eyes. It is used by ophthalmologists to check the health of the retina, the layer of nerve cells in the back of the eye. Recently, scientists have realized that these scans contain information about the health of the brain and body. Therefore, researchers used data from them to diagnose neurological diseases, from Alzheimer’s disease to schizophrenia. Photo: VadimVasenin/Depositphotos.com Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disease characterized by physical tremors, slow movements, stiffness or loss of balance that inevitably worsens over time. To predict its development, scientists led by ophthalmologist Siegfried Wagner conducted the largest retinal imaging study. And while researchers had previously noticed retinal abnormalities in patients who had died of Parkinson’s disease, it was unclear whether changes could be detected during life. It turned out that it was. Using an artificial intelligence program, the researchers compared eye scans of 154,830 patients aged 40 and over. 700 people with Parkinson’s disease showed a small but significant difference in the appearance of the retina. In particular, in some, a thinning of the inner ganglion cell layer, which is a type of neuron that transmits visual information through dopamine, was noticed. The scientists then took this information when examining the scans of 67,311 people in the UK Biobank database, 53 of whom were diagnosed with the disease. Thus, they found that this thinning of the inner ganglionic layer can occur in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease – even before the appearance of clinical symptoms. These data reaffirmed some previous reports that the eyes show the first outward signs of the disease. Currently, Parkinson’s disease is quite difficult, because its symptoms lag far behind the pathology. When a person is diagnosed with this condition, they lose 60 to 80 percent of their dopamine-producing cells. If it is possible to notice the initial stages of the disorder, researchers will be able to radically change the approach in treatment. “Identifying the signs of a number of diseases before symptoms appear means that in the future people will be able to change their lifestyles to prevent the occurrence of certain diseases,” says ophthalmologist Siegfried Wagner from University College London. We will remind you that earlier we talked about which products should be used by people with Parkinson’s in order to prolong life. Read also: The load on the brain in old age can reduce the risk of developing dementia – scientists
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