Improving Brain Plasticity Could Delay Onset of Alzheimer’s Disease

Subjects at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease may now be able to delay the onset of their first symptoms by several years.The human brain loses 5 to 10 per cent of its weight between the ages of 20 and 90 years old. While some cells are lost, the brain is equipped with two compensatory mechanisms: plasticity and redundancy. Based on the results the principal author Sylvie Belleville’s most recent clinical study, it has been found that for elderly subjects at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, hope may lie in brain plasticity.


“Brain plasticity refers to the brain’s remarkable ability to change and reorganize itself. It was long thought that brain plasticity declined with age, however, our study demonstrates that this is not the case, even in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease“, declares Sylvie Belleville.

These findings open countless new avenues of research including the possibility of improving the plasticity of affected areas of the brain, and slowing the decline in plasticity through pharmacological means or lifestyle changes, thereby allowing subjects with Alzheimer’s disease to enjoy several more symptom-free years.
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