The newspaper, “Daily Mirror”, says that there may be a “high street eye test for Alzeimer’s” in the next five years. It says that a recent research in mice has shown that placing a fluorescent dye into the retina of the eye, which is harmless, could target the dying nerve cells which are an early sign of Alzeimer’s.

The study involved a model which is a new novel way of examining the dead eye cells in living animals. The focus of the research was to test whether the technique could detect cell death in the retinas of rodents which included animals with rodent versions of the human diseases, glaucoma and even Alzeimer’s disease.

The diagnosis procedure of Alzeimer’s is a complicated one and some extra tests can be done to help in identifying the condition. This technique has qualified for further research but it is too early to assure that the test might be successful in humans.

Professor Francesca Cordeiro and colleagues from University College London conducted this research along with some others from research centers in the US and Italy.

This story was reported by the BBC news, Daily Telegraph and even the Daily Mirror. They all say the same thing- that the research has been conducted in mice and human trials are yet to follow.

The Wellcome Trust and The Foundation Fighting Blindness funded the study. Some of the authors of the study are named as inventors on an application for patent covering the technology mentioned in the study.