Alzheimer’s Disease Essay -- Alzheimers Disease Essays

Alzheimer’s Disease INTRODUCTION Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive degenerative disorder of insidious onset, characterized by memory loss, confusion, and a variety of cognitive disabilities. It is the major cause of dementia in the elderly and is characterized by the presence of neuropathologic lesions including: neurofibrillary tangles in the neuronal perikarya and in pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and neocortex, nucleus basalis of Meynert, and periaqueductal gray. Neuritic (senile) plaques often with a central or core deposition of amyloid within the plaque and in some cases with amyloid infiltration of blood vessel walls (amyloid angiopathy) and the adjacent perivascular neuropil; loss of neurons, most often in the hippocampus, neocortex, locus coeruleus, and nucleus basalis; and disturbance of acetylcholine transmitter activity marked by lowered levels of acetylcholine and choline acetyltransferase (4). ETIOLOGY Alzheimer’s disease may strike as early as age 40, but is most common after the age of 60. As the average life expectancy continues to increase so too does the incidence of AD. In its early stages it is difficult to distinguish from normal aging. However, whether AD is a specific qualitative disorder such as an infectious process, endogenous or exogenous toxic disorder or biochemical deficiency, or whether it is a quantitative disorder, in which an acceleration of the normal aging processes occur and dementia appears as neural reserves are exhausted, remains to be seen. New techniques of molecular genetics provide a promising new approach for understanding AD in view of the evidence that there is a familiar factor present in the disease (4). In several studies, over one thi... ...scular disease, Parkinson’s disease, hydrocephalus, amyotrophic lateral and multiple sclerosis, and dementia’s resulting from tumors and brain injuries. In light of all this, with an aging population, it is clear to see the need for further study in order to gain a better understanding of the cause and parameters of AD. Works Cited: 1) Guela and M. Mesulam (1989). Cortical Cholinergic Fibers in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease: A Morphometric Study. Neuroscience, Vol.33, No.3: pp. 469-481. 2.)Guela, C., Tokuno, H., Hersh, L., and Mesulam, M., (1990). Human Striatal Cholinergic Neurons In Development, Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease. Brain Research, 508: pp.310-312. 3.) Nappi, G., Sinforiani, E., Martigonoi, E., Petraglia, F., Rossi, F., Genazzani, A. R. (1988). Aging Brain and Dementia’s: Changes in Central Opioids. European Neurology. 28: pp.217-220.