Credit: Ping Yan and Jin-Moo Lee
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a chemical compound that detects the Alzheimer’s protein amyloid beta better than current FDA-approved agents. The compound potentially may be used in brain scans to identify people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease. In the image, the compound has passed from the bloodstream of a living mouse into its brain, where it is detected by a positron emission tomography (PET) scan. Arrows indicate clumps of amyloid beta.