Northwestern Now
Findings open new avenue of research in memory loss
Northwestern studies SuperAgers to better understand what is going right in their brains.
A new Northwestern Medicine study showed cognitive SuperAgers have resistance to the development of fibrous tangles in a brain region related to memory and which are known to be markers of Alzheimerâs disease.Â
The tangles are made of the tau protein which forms structures that transport nutrients within the nerve cell. These tangles disrupt the cellâs transport system, hampering communication within the neuron and preventing nutrients from performing their particular job within the cell. The end result of tangle formation is cell death.
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