PSY-150/Withrows
September 8, 2003
Alzheimer disease is named for the German doctor Alois
Alzheimer who discovered the disease in a woman who died from a peculiar mental
illness. Dr. Alzheimer discovered changes in the brain tissue of this woman
finding the abnormal clumps and tangled bundles indicative now of signs of
Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is a fatal disease as it not only destroys brain cells
that are important for memory but also destroys brain cells that cause failure
in other systems of the body.
It was surprising to learn that Alzheimer disease is the
fourth leading cause of death in adults. The most common symptoms of AD are a
gradual loss of memory in regards to facts, events, and even friends and family
members. Lesions on the brain consisting of amyloid plaques as well as
neurofibrillary tangles have been observed in Alzheimer brain tissue. Amyloid
plaques are clumps of protein fragments that have accumulated on the outside of
cells and neurofibrillary tangles are clumps of altered proteins found inside
cells. Recent testing on mice has recognized an enzyme that could possibly be
the cause of the increase in amyloid. There is also the discovery of three
genes that may cause the disease, in particular one gene that raises the risk
of Alzheimer’s in older people. Other factors such as high blood pressure and
high cholesterol may also increase the risk for developing Alzheimer’s.
Internet Links Used:
www.alz.org/AboutAD/Causes.htm
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disease/Alzheimer.html
www.alz.alzheimers.org/pubs/adfact.html
