The secret of sharp memory in old age

March, 2010

Examination of the brains from 9 “super-aged” — people over 80 whose memory performance was at the level of 50-year-olds — has found that some of them had almost no tau tangles. Are they genetically protected, or reaping the benefits of a preventive lifestyle?

Examination of the brains from 9 “super-aged” — people over 80 whose memory performance was at the level of 50-year-olds — has found that some of them had almost no tau tangles. The accumulation of tau tangles has been thought to be a natural part of the aging process; an excess of them is linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The next step is to work out why some people are immune to tangle formation, while others appear immune to the effects. Perhaps the first group is genetically protected, while the others are reaping the benefits of a preventive lifestyle.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/acs-pts030810.php

Reference:

The findings were presented March 23 at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

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