06/14/2026
A healthy brain is made up of billions of nerve cells that communicate with each other to support your memory, thinking, learning and everyday functioning.
The hippocampus plays a key role in forming and retrieving memories and works with other brain regions to help you connect experiences with emotion and context. The cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain, helps with reasoning, language and decision-making by processing information across many nerve cells. These structures work in harmony to regulate movement, memory, emotion and thought.
In Alzheimer’s disease, the brain undergoes progressive changes that affect its anatomy and function. Abnormal buildups of amyloid and tau proteins form plaques and tangles that interfere with communication between nerve cells and lead to cell death. Neurons in areas like the hippocampus and cerebral cortex are especially vulnerable. Over time these changes disrupt connections that are essential for memory, reasoning, language and behavior.
As neurons are damaged and lost, the brain’s structure begins to shrink. This atrophy is most pronounced in regions responsible for memory and higher cognitive functions. These changes do not happen overnight. They begin years before symptoms appear and are part of the biological process of Alzheimer’s disease, not normal aging.
At the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement at Cleveland Clinic, we are committed to advancing research that deepens our understanding of these anatomical differences, improves early detection and leads to interventions that protect brain health for everyone, everywhere.
