Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
J Alzheimers Dis. 2010;22(1):225-34. doi: 10.3233/JAD-2010-100723.
There is a need to differentiate between patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) from normal-aged controls (NC) in the field of clinical drug discovery. In this study, we developed a tactile angle discrimination system and examined whether the ability to discriminate tactile angle differed between patients with MCI and AD and the NC group. Thirty-seven subjects were divided into three groups: NC individuals (n=14); MCI patients (n=10); and probable AD patients (n=13). All subjects were asked to differentiate the relative sizes of the reference angle (60°) and one of eight comparison angles by passive touch. The accuracy of angle discrimination was measured and the discrimination threshold was calculated. We discovered that there were significant differences in the angle discrimination thresholds of AD patients compared to the NC group. Interestingly, we also found that ability to discriminate tactile angle of MCI patients were significantly lower than that of the NC group. This is the first study to report that patients with MCI and AD have substantial performance deficits in tactile angle discrimination compared to the NC individuals. This finding may provide a monitor and therapeutic approach in AD diagnosis and treatment.
在临床药物研发领域，需要将轻度认知障碍（MCI）和阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者与正常年龄对照（NC）区分开来。在这项研究中，我们开发了一种触觉角度辨别系统，并检查了 MCI 和 AD 患者与 NC 组之间的触觉角度辨别能力是否存在差异。37 名受试者被分为三组：NC 个体（n=14）；MCI 患者（n=10）；和可能的 AD 患者（n=13）。所有受试者都被要求通过被动触摸来区分参考角（60°）和八个比较角中的一个的相对大小。测量了角度辨别准确性，并计算了辨别阈值。我们发现 AD 患者的角度辨别阈值与 NC 组有显著差异。有趣的是，我们还发现 MCI 患者的触觉角度辨别能力明显低于 NC 组。这是第一项报告 MCI 和 AD 患者在触觉角度辨别方面与 NC 个体相比存在明显表现缺陷的研究。这一发现可能为 AD 的诊断和治疗提供监测和治疗方法。
