Alzheimers Disease

Alzheimer's Disease


Alzheimer's Disease is a progressive and irreversible brain disease that

destroys mental and physical functioning in human beings, and invariably leads

to death. It is the fourth leading cause of adult death in the United States.

Alzheimer's creates emotional and financial catastrophe for many American

families every year. Fortunately, a large amount of progress is being made to

combat Alzheimer's disease every year.


To fully be able to comprehend and combat Alzheimer's disease, one must know

what it does to the brain, the part of the human body it most greatly affects.

Many Alzheimer's disease sufferers had their brains examined. A large number of

differences were present when comparing the normal brain to the Alzheimer's

brain. There was a loss of nerve cells from the Cerebral Cortex in the

Alzheimer's victim. Approximately ten percent of the neurons in this region were

lost. But a ten percent loss is relatively minor, and cannot account for the

severe impairment suffered by Alzheimer's victims.


Neurofibrillary Tangles are also found in the brains of Alzheimer's victims.

They are found within the cell bodies of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex, and

take on the structure of a paired helix. Other diseases that have "paired

helixes" include Parkinson's disease, Down's Syndrome, and Dementia Pugilistica.

Scientists are not sure how the paired helixes are related in these very

different diseases.


Neuritic Plaques are patches of clumped material lying outside the bodies of

nerve cells in the brain. They are mainly found in the cerebral cortex, but have

also been seen in other areas of the brain. At the core of each of these plaques

is a substance called amyloid, an abnormal protein not usually found in the

brain. This amyloid core is surrounded by cast off fragments of dead or dying

nerve cells. The cell fragments include dying mitochondria, presynaptic

terminals, and paired helical filaments identical to those that are

neurofibrillary tangles. Many neuropathologists think that these plaques are

basically clusters of degenerating nerve cells. But they are still not sure of

how and why these fragments clustered together.


Congophilic Angiopathy is the technical name that neuropathologists have given

to an abnormality found in the walls of blood vessels in the brains of victims

of Alzheimer's disease. These abnormal patches are similar to the neuritic

plaques that develop in Alzheimer's disease, in that amyloid has been found

within the bl
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