Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget
The gradual deterioration of memory is a normal process associated with aging. But men seem affected earlier than women. Possible cause: that would be protective estrogen in women.
Progressive memory loss is a natural phenomenon during aging, which does not necessarily mean that the individual risk of developing dementia such as Alzheimer's. The anatomical level, this disease is characterized by accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain. Some people carry the APOE ε4, have a higher risk of developing it.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic studied the effect of age, gender, APOE ε4 gene and on memory, brain structure and amyloid β in adults. For this, they examined the brain structure of 1,246 people aged 30 to 95 years who had normal cognitive function. 1209 were between 50 to 95 years and 37 between 30 and 49 years to be exact. The researchers were interested in the volume of the hippocampus, a brain area important for the formation and storage of memory. Their findings appear in JAMA Neurology.
The hippocampal volume was reduced slowly and steadily from age 30 to the mid-sixties, but soon beyond. Overall, men had poorer memory than women, especially after 40 years, and the volume of the hippocampus was smaller in men than women, especially after 60 years. One hypothesis to explain this more rapid decline in men is hormone: estrogen might help women prevent damage to brain neurons to the middle of their lives.
Amyloid accumulations increase after 70 years
The researchers also used Pet scans to study amyloid accumulation in the brains of participants. They observed that there were no differences between men and women. Overall, amyloid levels were low in most people before the age of 70, but then increased.
Overall, the volume of the hippocampus and the memory did not differ, that individuals carry or not the predisposing allele in Alzheimer's disease. But after 70 years, those who carried the APOE ε4 allele had significantly more amyloid than others. The age at which 10% of the population was positive amyloid was 57 years for those who carried this allele and 64 for others.
Eventually, the worsening of memory and hippocampal volume occurs earlier than the accumulation of amyloid. This suggests that, in middle age, amyloid deposits are not responsible for the loss of memory or volume of the hippocampus. Alzheimer's disease and amyloid deposits are set up later, in a context of pre-existing cognitive and structural decline associated with aging
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