BERLIN: Timely diagnosis of debilitating and often deadly brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s remains largely elusive, though in recent years several teams of scientists have reported potential advances based on eye scans or blood tests.
In the latest advance, a Korean team has developed what they describe as an “artificial intelligence-based sensor platform capable of early diagnosis of neurological disorders using saliva.”
The researchers claim that the system diagnosed epilepsy, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s with almost 98% accuracy.
Based at Korea University, the Korea Institute of Material Science and the Catholic University of Korea St Vincent’s Hospital, the team came up with a sensor platform that uses something called surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). This is an "analytical technique that detects the unique molecular signals generated when molecules interact with light,” the team says.
“By precisely engineering the sensor structure, the team enabled stable detection of trace amounts of protein signals in saliva,” according to Korea University, which says in a March statement that the sensor was then deployed to “analyse representative neuroproteins” which have in the past been linked to brain degeneration.
“This study presents a point-of-care diagnostic platform that enables non-invasive early screening of neurological disorders based on structural changes in saliva proteins,” says Professor Jung Ho-sang of Korea University.
“Neurological disorders are often difficult to diagnose at their early stages because initial symptoms are subtle or atypical,” the team says after findings published in the journal Advanced Materials.
“In particular, degenerative brain diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease frequently present with non-specific symptoms, leading to delayed diagnosis,” they say, warning that the commonly used brain imaging and cerebrospinal fluid tests are “costly and invasive.” – dpa
