The first symptoms of dementia are often depression and anxiety, with many people not realising they have the disease. This is especially the case for younger people – nearly 30,000 Australians have developed dementia before they reach 65.
Professor Dennis Velakoulis (pictured above), director of the Neuropsychiatry Unit, Royal Melbourne Hospital, is leading research pointing to a simple test measuring the level of neurofilament light in the blood.
“Neurofilament light, or NFL, is a protein that lives in brain cells. It helps to maintain the structure of brain cells. And when a brain cell is damaged, it’s released,” Professor Velakoulis told the ABC.
“When we see it elevated in the spinal fluid or blood, it indicates that there’s been some brain injury and the brain cells have died.”
Crucially, neurofilament light is not present in samples from patients with mental illness, meaning this test could differentiate between the two conditions.
This is the first time Australian researchers have confirmed the link.
“People with psychiatric illnesses, or people who are healthy, have normal levels of NFL, because there’s no brain cells dying. But in many neurological disorders, particularly in dementia, there are brain cells that are dying and releasing NFL,” added Professor Velakoulis.
At the moment, neurofilament light levels are commonly measured in samples of spinal fluid. As technology improves, it should be possible to just test the blood instead.
Exciting news.
