Detecting early signs of Alzheimer's disease is beneficial for both the patient and clinician in developing efficient and detailed treatment and prevention plans. To detect these cognitive signs early, researchers from the National Institute for Health Research Sheffield Biomedical Research Center at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdomhave found that detecting diminished dopamine firing cells inside the brain with MRI may just do the trick, according to a recent university press release. 

Additionally, study results linked the size and function of the brain's ventral tegmental area, the size of the hippocampus and an individual's ability to learn new things.

According to researchers, a loss of cells that use dopamine may prohibit the part of the brain responsible for forming new memories. The team conducted 3Tesla MRI scans on 30 patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and 29 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's.  

"Our findings suggest that if a small area of brain cells, called the ventral tegmental area, does not produce the right amount of dopamine for the hippocampus, a small organ located within the brain's temporal lobe, it will not work efficiently," said lead author Annalena Venneri, PhD, from the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience at the University of Sheffield, in a prepared statement. "More studies are necessary, but these findings could potentially lead to a new way of screening the elderly population for early signs of Alzheimer's disease, changing the way brain scans are acquired and interpreted and using different memory tests."