What role does sodium play in vascular dementia?

Lead Investigator: Dr Sasha Philbert    

Based at: University of Manchester                                  

Project type: Postdoctoral Fellowship

Themes: Diagnosis                                                  

Running time: 2025-2029​​​

Project summary

Tests to differentiate vascular dementia from Alzheimer’s disease are often costly, invasive, or inaccurate, leading to incorrect diagnosis. Finding a more accurate, simple, and cheaper way to diagnose vascular dementia is very important.  

Dr Philbert’s previous research showed that sodium levels were higher in the brains of people who have died with vascular dementia compared to those who died with Alzheimer’s disease.  

Now, Dr Philbert will use specialised MRI scans to find out why this happens, and if measuring sodium levels in the brains of living people could help to diagnose vascular dementia in the future.  

Project background

Even though vascular dementia is the second most common type of dementia, we don’t fully understand it, and doctors can’t always tell the difference between vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.  The tests which are used for diagnosing vascular dementia, such as brain scans, can be costly and invasive. We need to learn more about what happens in the brain to cause vascular dementia to be able to find better ways to diagnose it.  

Previous research by Dr Philbert showed that levels of sodium are higher in the brains of people who died with vascular dementia than those with Alzheimer’s disease.

Measuring levels of sodium in people with dementia could help tell these two diseases apart.

What does this project involve?

By using MRI scans, Dr Philbert will measure the sodium levels in the brains of people with vascular dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and healthy individuals to look for any changes that might be associated with the disease. The scans will also look at brain size, blood vessel damage, and blood flow in the brain.

Through this research, Dr Philbert will also explore why these sodium changes happen in vascular dementia, and if sodium changes in the brain can also be detected in the blood. To achieve this, Dr Philbert will use a powerful camera to look for any damage to blood vessels in the brain and test samples of blood and cerebrospinal fluid (fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord) to look for molecules and markers that could be linked to this damage.  

How will this impact people living with dementia?

The results from this project could help to develop simpler and more affordable tests for diagnosing vascular dementia. This research could also help us to understand the disease better, which may lead to developing potential new treatments in the future.