Understanding Alzheimers Disease :: Alzheimers Disease Essays

Understanding Alzheimers Disease Alzheimers Disease is a progressive and permanent brain diseasethat destroys mental and physical functioning in tender-hearted beings, andinvariably leads to death. It is the fourth leading cause of adult death inthe United States. Alzheimers creates emotional and financial catastrophefor many American families every year. Fortunately, a large amount ofprogress is being made to beset Alzheimers disease every year. To fully be able to comprehend and combat Alzheimers disease, onemust know what it does to the brain, the part of the human body it closegreatly affects. Many Alzheimers disease sufferers had their brainsexamined. A large number of differences were bow when comparing thenormal brain to the Alzheimers brain. There was a loss of middle cells fromthe Cerebral Cortex in the Alzheimers victim. Approxiately ten percent ofthe neurons in this constituent were lost. But a ten percent loss is relativelyminor, and cannot notice for the severe impairment suffered by Alzheimersvictims. Neurofibrillary Tangles atomic number 18 also found in the brains of Alzheimersvictims. They argon found within the cell bodies of centre cells in the noetic cortex, and take on the structure of a paired helix. Otherdiseases that call for paired helixes include Parkinsons disease, DownsSyndrome, and Dementia Pugilistica. Scientists are not undisputable how the pairedhelixes are related in these very different diseases. Neuritic Plaques are patches of clumped material lying outside thebodies of nerve cells in the brain. They are generally found in the cerebralcortex, but have also been seen in other areas of the brain. At the core ofeach of these plaques is a substance called amylaceous, an affected proteinnot usually found in the brain. This amyloid core is contact by cast offfragments of dead or dying nerve cells. The cell fragments include dyingmitochondria, presynaptic terminals, and paired helical filaments identi calto those that are neurofibrillary tangles. Many neuropathologists thinkthat these plaques are basically clusters of degenerating nerve cells. Butthey are still not sure of how and why these fragments clustered together. Congophilic Angiopathy is the technical bring out that neuropathologistshave given to an abnormality found in the walls of blood vessels in thebrains of victims of Alzheimers disease. These abnormal patches aresimilar to the neuritic plaques that develop in Alzheimers disease, inthat amyloid has been found within the blood-vessel walls wherever thepatches occur. Another name for these patches is cerebrovascular amyloid,