A research team at the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center - Northwestern University, Illinois, USA, found that the protein amyloid - a hallmark of this disease - begins to accumulate in the neurons of the brain since the age of 20 [see more here ]. Scientists believe that this is the first time that such changes were observed in the human brain of individuals so young. Prof. Changiz Gheula said:
Discovering that amyloid begins to accumulate so early in life is unprecedented. This is very significant. We know that amyloid, when present for long periods of time, is bad for you.
For the study, brains of deceased people in the age range from 20 to 95 were considered. Specifically, the sample included twenty-one people with Alzheimer's disease aged between 60 and 95, sixteen people aged between 70 and 79 without dementia, and thirteen "normal" people aged between 20 and 66 years.
The findings are published in the journal Brain [download the pdf]
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