What controls beta-amyloid?

In general, genes control how much beta-amyloid you have in your brain. Some branches may be knocking out those notes from your course in 18th-Century Roman history, while others may be causing you to forget to pick up the very thing that you went to the supermarket for in the first place. But your genes don't have complete control. You can alter the amount of gunk you have gooping up and weighing down your power lines by altering the expression of one of your genes: the Apo E gene, to be exact.

Apo E protein acts like the power company crew that removes the branches and sap from the power lines after the storm. It sweeps through and removes the beta-amyloid so that your synapses can keep functioning and you don't lose the ability to remember how many career touchdown passes Dan Marino threw (420), or what year Diane Keaton won an Oscar for best actress (1977).

Whenever we create new synapses to help our brain improve itself, some of this beta-amyloid remains behind, and the Apo E workers clear the gunk to ensure a clean connection.