Why is one area of ​​the brain damaged more quickly by Alzheimer’s disease than another?

About the episode

This is one of the big questions surrounding the disease that we don’t yet have the answer to. Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine have now found something that may help explain it.

Most people with Alzheimer’s disease first develop damage – caused by protein buildup – in the memory area of ​​the brain. This is usually followed by areas that stimulate thinking and planning.

To find out why this is the case in most cases, they studied the brains of 350 subjects in this study, comparing patterns of protein accumulation with patterns of gene expression. For example, they found that areas where the APOE gene is most active also show significant protein accumulation and tissue damage.

And that goes for more genes associated with Alzheimer’s disease. They also saw them in similar patterns in regions of the brain where the damage first occurs.

Almost everyone carries some variant of these genes, but with some variants – for example the APOE4 gene – carriers are even more likely to develop damage. They also saw it in research.

He does not say everything in the long term, for example there are also atypical forms in which other areas are the first to be affected, but in the case of diseases like Alzheimer’s, everything that can be learned about its origin counts.

Read more: Study gives clues as to why Alzheimer’s disease damages parts of the brain.