Pathway of Alzheimer's degeneration discovered: Finding is key for future treatment and earlier diagnosis -- ScienceDaily

Scientists at the Montreal Neurological
Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) of McGill University have used a
unique approach to track brain degeneration in Alzheimer's disease,
uncovering a pathway through which degeneration spreads from one region
to another.

Individuals in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) were
scanned using both structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) and
positron emission tomography (PET). The scientists were interested in
how AD affects the basal forebrain -- a deep brain structure that
supplies the outer cortex with acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that is
critical for maintaining normal brain function. They found that as
cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain degenerate, the areas in the
cortex which receive their cholinergic inputs also degenerate.