Brain aging and Alzheimer's disease both demonstrate the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein containing "plaques" and tau protein containing "tangles" that contribute to accelerated memory loss and cognitive decline.
The incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is characterized by progressive cognitive decline that correlates with the spread of tau protein aggregation in the cortical mantle, is strongly age-related.
The aggregation of the tau protein into neurofibrillary tangles is believed to correlate with cognitive decline in several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease.
The relationship between biomarkers of amyloid-beta aggregation (Aβ1-42) and/or neurodegeneration (Tau protein) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and cognitive decline is still unclear.