Searching for neurobiological basis of Alzheimer's disease (AD)
Level - GradAD is a debilataing disease that affects a significant fraction of the elderly population. It is sometimes difficult to characterize and accurately diagnose AD. In neuropsychological tests, symptoms of AD are not entirely clearly cut. It is therefore desirable to identify neurobiological correlates of AD for better diagnosis and assessment of the disease. Conventional neuroimaging studies of AD have yielded some promising but limited results. There is some evidence suggesting that white matter abnormalities may be the basis of this disease.
In the past several years, a new methodology in MRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), has emerged. DTI noninvasively maps the anistropy of water diffusion in tissue, thereby providing an assessment of the microstructural organization of tissue. Given that the white matter of the brain is highly organized and white matter degradation is likely in AD, DTI may be of value in defining the neurobiological basis of AD. Your task in this problem is to design a study that will allow you to evaluate the utility of DTI in AD.