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
blood-vessel walls wherever the patches occur. Another name for these patches is
cerebrovascular amyloid, meaning amyloid found in the blood vessels of the
brains. Acetylcholine is a substance that carries signals from one nerve cell to
another. It is known to be important to learning and memory. In the mid 1970s,
scientists found that the brains of those afflicted with Alzheimer's disease
contained sixty to ninety percent less of the enzyme choline
acetyltransferase(CAT), which is responsible for producing acetylcholine, than
did the brains of healthy persons. This was a great milestone, as it was the
first functional change related to learning and memory, and not to different
structures. Somatostatin is another means by which cells in the brain
communicate with each other. The quantities of this chemical messenger, like
those of CAT, are also greatly decreased in the cerebral cortex and the
hippocampus of persons with Alzheimer's disease, almost to the same degree as
CAT is lost. Although scientists have been able to identify many of these, and
other changes, they are not yet sure as to how, or why they take place in
Alzheimer's disease. One could say, that they have most of the pieces of the
puzzle; all that is left to do is find the missing piece and decipher the
meaning. If treatment is required for someone with Alzheimer's disease, then the
Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association(ADRDA), a privately
funded, national, non- profit organization dedicated to easing the burden of
Alzheimer victims and their families and finding a cure can be contacted. There
are more than one hundred and sixty chapters throughout the country, and over
one thousand support groups that can be contacted for help. ADRDA fights
Alzheimer's on five fronts 1- funding research 2- educating and thus increase
public awareness 3- establishing chapters with support groups 4- encouraging
federal and local legislation to help victims and their families 5- providing a
service to help victims and their families find the proper care they need.