Could newborn neurons reverse Alzheimer’s?

ONE OF THE first signs of Alzheimer’s disease is confusion. Most people can park their car in a different space every morning and find it again in the evening. Those with Alzheimer’s find this type of problem much harder. Memories of things they do often, like eating or taking medication, become tangled in their minds.

The ability to distinguish between similar memories depends on a tiny strip of brain tissue called the dentate gyrus. Studies in mice have shown that the dentate gyrus is one of the few bits of the brain to generate new neurons even in adulthood. Those new neurons are thought to help keep similar memories distinct.