Older adult volunteers needed for memory imaging study

Jan. 24, 2007 -- Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are conducting a study to investigate factors related to memory in older adults. They are seeking healthy volunteers between 70 and 75 years of age who have siblings also willing to participate.

Study participants will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan to determine the structure of the brain and a positron emission tomography (PET) scan to analyze amyloid levels in the brain. Amyloid is a protein related to memory and to Alzheimer's disease.

The research team is led by Alison M. Goate, Ph.D., the Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Genetics in Psychiatry and a professor of genetics and of neurology, and Mark A. Mintun, M.D. professor of radiology and of psychiatry. They will interview study volunteers about their health and family histories and conduct several memory tests. The researchers will compare findings on the memory tasks with findings from the brain-imaging portion of the study to correlate memory performance with amounts of amyloid protein seen in the brain scans.

Sibling volunteers must be within four years of one another's age. The presence of metal in the body, such as pacemakers or prosthetic devices, may exclude some subjects.

Participants will make two visits to Washington University Medical Center for the testing. Each visit will last two-and-a-half to three hours. Study volunteers will be compensated for their time.

For more information or to volunteer for the study, call Angela at (314) 362-1558.

Washington University School of Medicine's full-time and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.