The Brain Inflamed

The amyloid plaques and tau tangles that are the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease may be a cause of the condition.

Alois Alzheimer, the eponymous psychiatrist who first described dementia in the early 20th century, noticed the plaques and tangles right away. He also noticed the microglia – scavenger cells that function to patrol and protect the brain – interspersed among the neurons in the deteriorating brains. Since cognitive decline and memory loss are the distinguishing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, most research focused on the neurons and any defects within them. But now there is a fair amount of support for the once-radical idea that the immune system, specifically its role in inflammation, could play a formative part in the development of the...