Source: University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The size, shape and number of dendritic spines in the brain may play a major role in whether someone gets Alzheimer’s disease, according to new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dendritic spines are sub-units of neurons that act as the connector to other neurons.

In findings published Oct. 24 in the Annals of Neurology, the research team showed, for the first time, that the presence of healthy dendritic spines conveyed a protective effect against Alzheimer’s in people whose brains had proteins associated with the disease.

“One of the precursors of Alzheimer’s is the development in the brain of proteins called amyloid and tau, which we refer to as the pathology…