UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, USA. Diagnostic eye ointment or eyedrops loaded with fluorescent markers that change colors depending on the amyloid being encountered can diagnose early signs of any neuro-degenerative condition. This is a remarkable innovation that can replace typical and not so reliable diagnostics for neuro-degenerative disorders.
It has been quite some time now that neuro-degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Creutzfeld-Jacobs and Parkinson’s are difficult to diagnose. Outward symptoms are good indicators but most neuro-disorders’ protein biomarkers called amyloids are complex to distinguish. This led the researchers at UCSD (University of California San Diego) to develop a diagnostic tool by simply looking at a patient’s eyes.
Most neurological disorders are usually associated with specific amyloids. These are fibrous protein aggregates that have distinct structures. They are actually proteins that did not fold the right way, making them distinct as a group but tough to distinguish. So what the researchers did was to develop a set of fluorescent markers that can change color depending on the type of amyloid being encountered.
Aside from the brain, amyloids accumulate in the eyes as well. With the use of an eye ointment or eyedrops that contain fluorescent markers, doctors can now identify amyloids in the eye with their corresponding colors. The colors will serve as indicators for the associated neurological disorder of an amyloid encountered. This new diagnostic tool is more reliable that the usual diagnostic tools for neuro-degenerative disorders since it heavily relies on PET scans and amyloid targeting radioactive molecules.
| Invention | Eye Ointment/Eyedrops With Fluorescent Markers |
|---|---|
| Organization | University of California San Diego , California, USA |
| Researcher | UCSD Researchers |
| Field(s) | Alzheimer’s, Creutzfeld-Jacobs, Parkinson’s, Neurological Diseases, Amyloid, Neuro-degenerative Disorders |
| Further Information | POPSCI |
