Alzheimer’s disease is associated with the buildup of a toxic form of protein called beta-amyloid, which aggregates in sticky clumps, or plaques, within the brain. Amyloid plaques are poisonous to neurons, killing the surrounding brain cells. What is strange, however, is that amyloid plaques only affect some parts of the brain and not others, the reasons for which remain unclear. What struck me about this unexplained pattern was the location in the brain where amyloid accumulates early in the course of Alzheimer’s disease, and most severely in the late stages of the condition. That area is the
...more
