MAPT and frontotemporal dementia: One genome wide association study using data from the UK Biobank, found and replicated a significant association between brain ageing and two genetic variants - one spanning many genes, including MAPT, which encodes for the tau protein (i.e., considered to play a prominent role in Frontotemporal dementia, and other neurodegenerative disorders) [85, 86]; the second is near the TREK-1 gene, that has been reported (in mice) to play a role in memory impairment, cerebral ischemia, and blood brain barrier dysfunction [87–89].