The Cause Of Alzheimer's Disease

Do you have someone in your family that has Alzheimer’s? Alzheimer’s Disease is a disorder of the brain that results in gradual mental deterioration. Eventually, the brain becomes so damaged that it can no longer properly regulate the body’s many systems, and the patient dies. However, because this level of deterioration may take as long as twenty years to develop from the time the disease’s symptoms are first notice, Alzheimer’s patients often die of other illnesses first (Willett, pg.4). This is a brain disorder that seriously affects a person’s ability to carry out daily activities. It involves the parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language (Soliz, pg.13). Alzheimer’s is well-known as the most common cause of memory loss
It is known that people with Alzheimer’s exhibit two distinct changes in their brain cells; plaques and tangles. Plaques are made of a sticky protein called beta amyloid that builds up into small clumps in the cortex of the brain, intermingled with the functioning nerve cells. Tangles are made up of tau molecules’ which normally form tiny tubes that support the structure of the brain cell. In Alzheimer’s patients, the tau molecules change shape so that the tubes collapse and the cell shrinks and dies. Scientists don’t yet know how these two changes in the brain take place or how they are relate (Willett, pg. 5). A evaluation allows doctors to determine the cause of the problem so that they can prescribe appropriate treatment. Because many other conditions have similar symptoms, these must be ruled out in other for a person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Some of the other conditions that cause dementia are also neurodegenerative diseases, which destroy brain cells over time. The second most common cause of dementia is vascular dementia, a neurodegenerative disease caused by decreased blood flow to the brain. This can happen when a blood vessel that brings oxygen to the brain either bursts or is blocked by a blood clot, resulting a stroke. Besides a stroke or series of strokes, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis (hardening and narrowing of arteries), or other conditions that affect blood flow may cause vascular dementia. The
The drugs that are on the market for the disease boost the action of a brain chemical called acetylcholine. These drugs typically improve the patient’s symptoms to where they were six months earlier. However, they do not work for all patients, and even when they do work, the symptoms eventually become so severe that a six-month improvement does not help. Numerous new approaches to treatment are currently being researched, however, so new treatments will likely be available within the next few years. Until then, the goal of those caring for Alzheimer’s patients is to ensure their safety, comfort, and self-respect (Willett, pg.5-6). In the 1970s, when awareness about AD was rising, researchers discovered that levels of acetylcholine were lower in people with AD. The reason is that a enzyme (a protein that speeds up a chemical reaction) called acetylcholinesterase breaks down acetylcholine. This prevents the neurotransmitter from delivering its message. This discovery led scientists to develop drugs that stop or slow down this enzyme in order to prevent it from interfering with communication between neurons. These drugs are called cholinesterase inhibitors. Although their action in the brain is not completely understood (Adams,