Currently, the only accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is through postmortem analyses after a patient dies, but investigators have now developed a highly sensitive method for quantifying levels of tau protein—a hallmark of the condition—in cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
The method, which relies on optical sensors and what’s called “lab-on-fiber” technology, is described in a study published in Advanced Photonics Research and it can detect even slightly elevated levels of tau protein that may occur in the very early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Source: Read Full Article