Larger hippocampus may ward off Alzheimer's

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com Scientists may have learned why some people retain sharp minds and clear memories despite having the so-called brain plaques and tangles that are the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. comparing the brains of these people to others who had all the memory-robbing symptoms of Alzheimer's, the researchers said on Tuesday they found those who avoided dementia consistently had a larger part of the brain called the hippocampus. Dr. Deniz Erten-Lyons of Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, who led the study said the findings could inspire new ideas for combating Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia in the elderly. I think one of the important things of our study was emphasizing that there's other things that we need to focus on as well — other mechanisms that we don't know and do play a role in Alzheimer's disease The changes associated with Alzheimer's disease usually begin in the hippocampus, That's where the brain shrinkage starts in Alzheimer's disease