Dementia linked to diabetes, herpes as research looks beyond brain proteins to find cause
a series on dementia , including the research into its causes and treatment, advice for carers and stories of hope.
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The so-called amyloid hypothesis has dominated thinking on Alzheimer's disease for more than a century – since German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer found abnormal clumps of proteins called amyloids in a deceased patient's brain in 1906.
Today we know these as
amyloid plaques, which, along with tau tangles – the build-up of tau proteins inside neurons – are primary features of Alzheimer's disease.
Their occurrence can set up a catastrophic chain reaction that ultimately leads to the symptoms we associate with
dementia
Some people exhibit amyloid plaques and tau tangles associated with Alzheimer's but never develop dementia. Illustration: Shutterstock
But having amyloid deposits in the brain does not always lead to dementia. Some people exhibit amyloid plaques and tau tangles but never develop the characteristic symptoms of dementia.
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