An early sign of Alzheimer's disease has been identified

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An international study with the participation of neurophysiological scientists from Germany, Spain, Italy and Belgium identified an early sign of Alzheimer's disease – a poor ability to navigate in space, which is found in a healthy state.

The researchers' findings were published by journal Science Advances. They say that people prone to the development of Alzheimer's disease are less oriented in space.

Scientists explain that people have the ability to navigate without external signals – for example, thanks to this, a person can walk around the apartment at night without including light. It is problematic for those who are genetically predisposed to Alzheimer's disease.

The action of the mechanism that makes it possible to correctly feel one's position in space is due to the activity of grid cells in the entorhinal cortex (a part of the brain that is located in the temporal lobe ). According to scientists, this area of ​​the brain is one of the first to be affected by Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, a poor ability to navigate without special pointers can be an early sign of this disease.

“Navigation without external signals completely depends on the nature of the activity of the grid cells. A deficiency of this activity was detected in healthy people, but prone to the development of Alzheimer's disease,” the authors of the project reported.

They are convinced that in the future the difficulty of orientation in space without external signals will be taken into account as a marker of this disease at an early stage. stage, before the appearance of any serious symptoms.