Brain Plaques May Explain Higher Risk of Alzheimer's Based on Maternal History

(Credit: Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D., Mony J. de Leon, Ed.D.)
Two views of a composite image of the brains analyzed in the study compare the average increases in amyloid-beta deposits in volunteers with a maternally or paternally inherited risk of Alzheimer's, compared to counterparts with no family history of dementia.


Red highlights the regions with more amyloid among 14 volunteers with a maternally inherited risk, while blue shows the regions with more amyloid among 14 volunteers with a paternally inherited risk. Purple denotes higher amyloid deposits in both risk groups.

Aided by a new version of a brain scanning technique, the researchers discovered a far greater number of protein clumps linked to the disease among healthy adult children of parents with Alzheimer's compared to counterparts with no family history of dementia.

The average increase in these clumps, called amyloid-beta plaques, was particularly striking among study volunteers whose mothers had been diagnosed with the disease. The plaques appeared throughout most regions of the brain.

The study examined 42 healthy individuals, including 14 whose mothers had Alzheimer's, 14 whose fathers had Alzheimer's, and 14 counterparts with no family history of the disease.

On average, the first group of volunteers showed a 15 percent higher burden of amyloid-beta deposits than those with a paternal family history, and a 20 percent higher burden of the protein clumps than those with no familial risk factors.