{"id":236179,"date":"2026-04-29T22:11:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/not-all-alzheimers-leads-to-dementia"},"modified":"2026-04-29T22:11:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:11:05","slug":"not-all-alzheimers-leads-to-dementia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/not-all-alzheimers-leads-to-dementia","title":{"rendered":"Not all Alzheimer\u2019s leads to dementia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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One possible explanation is that resilient brains are better at repairing themselves during Alzheimer\u2019s. \u201cPerhaps they can add new brain cells to a network that is degenerating\u201d, the author says.<\/p>\n

This idea is linked to a process called adult neurogenesis, which refers to the birth of new brain cells (neurons) in the adult brain. It has been well-established in other animals, but its existence in humans has been debated for years.<\/p>\n

To study this, the team used human brain tissue from the Netherlands Brain Bank, which collects and stores donated brain samples for research. They included brains from control donors with no brain pathology, Alzheimer\u2019s patients, and individuals with Alzheimer\u2019s pathology who remained resilient to developing dementia.<\/p>\n

The team focused on a small part of the brain\u2019s memory center, likely one of the few areas where these new brain cells could form. \u201cThese cells are extremely rare, so we had to develop new ways to find them,\u201d the author says. \u201cWe really zoomed in on the exact spot where we expected them to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team found what they were looking for: so-called \u201cimmature\u201d neurons. These cells resemble young, not fully developed neurons. \u201cEven at an average age of over 80, we still found these immature neurons in all groups,\u201d the author says.<\/p>\n

But the biggest surprise came next. While the team had expected to find much more of these cells in the resilient group than in the Alzheimer\u2019s patients, the difference was not as big as expected.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the team found that the key difference lies in how the immature neurons behave. \u201cIn resilient individuals, these cells seem to activate programs that help them survive and cope with damage,\u201d the author says. \u201cWe also see lower signals related to inflammation and cell death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading \u201cNot all Alzheimer\u2019s leads to dementia\u201d | ><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One possible explanation is that resilient brains are better at repairing themselves during Alzheimer\u2019s. \u201cPerhaps they can add new brain cells to a network that is degenerating\u201d, the author says. This idea is linked to a process called adult neurogenesis, which refers to the birth of new brain cells (neurons) in the adult brain. It [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,269,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-life-extension","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236179\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}