Overview

• The peer-reviewed study in the American Journal of Pathology classifies ten distinct small-vessel disease processes that drive brain injury.
• Researchers used specialized microscopy and vascular stains on a University of New Mexico donated-brain repository to detect and differentiate small-vessel pathologies.
• Nano- and microplastics were detected in brain tissue and were more abundant in people with dementia, correlating with higher inflammation without establishing causation.
• Many brains from patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s also showed small-vessel disease, with Bearer estimating roughly half in the New Mexico sample had vascular involvement.
• Bearer reports the NIH has raised the possibility of convening experts to craft consensus classification and scoring, and the work was supported by a five-year $21.7 million NIH grant to the UNM ADRC awarded in 2024.