Correlation Between Elevated Levels of Amyloid β-Peptide in the Brain and Cognitive Decline

Abstract

Deposition of the amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) into plaques in the brain parenchyma and cerebral blood vessel walls is one of the distinguishing neuropathological features of Alzheimer disease (AD).¹ The Aβ peptide is generated from the Alzheimer amyloid precursor protein (APP) by 2 consecutive cleavage events: one proteolytic activity, β-secretase, generates the N-terminus of Aβ while another, γ-secretase, generates the C-terminus.²