Alzheimer 's Disease And Its Effects On The Brain

Dementia is a term used to describe the symptoms of a number of illnesses which effect the function of the brain. It is an umbrella term describing the progressive decline in a person’s cognitive ability. The type and severity of symptoms varies with each type of dementia and is usually has a gradual onset, is progressive and irreversible. (1)

Alzheimer 's disease (AD) is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain from which there is no recovery. There are three brain abnormalities that are the hallmarks of the Alzheimer’s disease is initially caused by plaques buildup in the brain’s neurons as illustrated in figure 1. The support structure that allows the flow of the nutrients through the neurons gets damaged and ultimately there is loss of connection among the neurons and they die off (National Institute of Health, 2015). This causes the brain tissue to shrinks, which is called atrophies. All this ultimately lead the victim of this disease to face difficulties in governing emotions, recognize errors and patterns, coordinate movement, and remember. Ultimately, a person with AD loses all memory and mental functioning.

This research paper will be about Alzheimer’s disease and how it affects the brain. It will also tell you many other things about Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s disease is named after the German physician Dr. Alois Alzheimer, who first discovered Alzheimer’s in 1906. It is the most common form of dementia, and it is found in around sixty to eighty percent of all cases of dementia. Alzheimer’s is a progressive disorder (physical ailment whose course in most cases is the worsening, growth, or spread of the disease), and it is characterized by large loss of nerve cells and the connection between them, along with change in personality and behavior. Its course is never ending, but pretty predictable. People who are on the upwards of sixty-five

Ultimately, Alzheimer’s Disease affects your your entire brain. The cortex shrivels up, making it hard to think, plan, or remember important things. The brain overall also begins to shrink in size. This shrinkage effects the hippocampus the most. The hippocampus is the area of the cortex that plays a big role in the creation of new memories. Ultimately the disease affects the function of the entire body as it causes the degeneration of brain tissue and nerve cells, it makes it harder for the brain to communication with the body and to function

Alzheimer’s Disease is one of the most common causes of death in the United States, and one of the most detrimental to families around the nation. This disease affects millions of people and brings a large financial burden upon the people who give support to the affected. The expenses of Alzheimer’s are so high that the disease has caused a financial epidemic through out the nation. Through research, it has been concluded that Alzheimer’s is the most expensive disease to be effected by, beating cardiac diseases and many others that are currently plaguing the nation.

Alzheimer’s disease affects the entire brain eventually, but as it moves through the different stages it may affect certain areas more. Before any side effects of the disease become observable, decades of damage to the brain can take place. This is known as the preclinical stage of Alzheimer’s disease. This damage is believed to take place primarily in the hippocampus, where memory functions in the brain. Here is where plaques and neurofibrillary tangles form and cause neuron death, which spreads the damage to other areas of the brain.

“Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a type of dementia, which is affecting the population that develops in the brain and can lead to problems with memory, thinking and behavior”. The Amyloid Hypothesis claims that the build up of the beta-amyloid in the brain is a cause in the development of Alzheimer disease in patients. This plaque of the beta-amyloid and its cascade of events can be linked to the deterioration and negative effects of cognitive function of the brain over time. The beta-amyloid is described to be a “sticky” protein located in the brain therefore plaques or build up of the amyloid is common. These plaques in turn can block the brain cells from communicating with each other. Which then activates an immune system, that leads to inflammation

Alzheimer’s disease was named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer, who in 1906 diagnosed changes in the mental status of one of his patients, before and after death, upon dissection of her brain. The symptoms included memory loss, language problems, unpredictable behaviors and mental acuity difficulty. Observing the cross section of a healthy brain and one of an AD patient indicate atrophy of brain tissue. The location of the shrinking indicates the severity of the type of dementia and magnitude of AD. The beginning stages of AD usually take place in the hippocampus portion of the brain. This is the region of the brain where memories are formed. During the atrophy of the disease this area begins to shrink and throughout the duration of the disease it shrinks to the point where this region has little to no functionality.

As an individual grows older there are many signs of aging, which occur. There are common areas of decline in cognition such as some loss of hearing, vision, and working memory that are considered part of the normal aging process. When these symptoms start to worsen and vastly impair everyday tasks, the consideration of a form of dementia is brought forward. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a brain disease, is the most common type of dementia, and affects majority of people 60 years or older (1,14). It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, which only continues to worsen over time. Each individual is affected differently with symptoms and the progression. As of right now there is no cure for it (14).

According to Sadigh et al (2015), AD occurs when the dysregulation of the amyloid-beta (Aβ) levels leads to the appearance of senile plaques, which contain Aβ depositions. Aβ is a complex biological molecule that interacts with many types of receptors and forms

Alzheimer’s disease, also known as AD is often insidious on set, it can take months up to years to go from a mild to severe impairment. (Mayeux, 2010) The disease is irreversible and has no cure. “The disease affects 500,000 Canadians, 71,000 of those are under the age of 65” (VanDenBroek, 2013). AD affects the person by impacting their neurological function, their cognition and their behaviour.

Most elderly people worry about what they will experience later on in life. They worry about any diseases or health issues they might develop. One major disease people in their 60s start to develope is Alzheimer’s. Thinking about acquiring Alzheimer’s is a scary topic. Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. Having Alzheimer 's affects your brain, body, and the people around you. The people around you are experiencing your sickness progress and your memory fade. Alzheimer’s is a very depressing disease that comes with a lot of risk factors. Scientists are researching ways in order to prevent this disease from killing every single person who is diagnosed with it.

This paper reviews how Alzheimer’s disease will slowly weaken and destroy the neuron connections within the brain. Data was assessed from four articles correlating to how a healthy brain functions in opposition to a brain with onset Alzheimer’s disease. It will analyze how and what causes the brain to shrink and disintegrate. The following articles written by (Francesco Angelucci, 2014; Christina E. Wierenga and Mark W. Bondi, 2011; Carl Banner, 1992, Richard J. Perrin, 2009) were evaluated and will go over basic brain structures, the neurons forest in relation to cell signaling, and damage to the brain with the progression of this illness.

A german Physician Alois Alzheimer did a postmortem (already dead) analysis of one of his patients, her name was Auguste Deter she was admitted to the hospital for the Mentally 111 in Frankfurt in 1901.He hoped to find out the root of the severe and rapid mental deterioration. When auguste was first interviewed she had a fog of confusion and also showed delusion behavior. She would have a lot of jealousy for her husband; she would start screaming thinking everybody wanted to kill her; she became wild and couldn't be controlled. She then died five years after she was put in the Hospital .When Alzheimer took a thin slice of her brain and put it under the microscope he found the following: that next to the nerve cells was a small clump that

“Neurodegenerative disease is an umbrella term for a range of conditions which primarily affect the neurons in the human brain”, JPND Research (2014). Alzheimer’s disease occurs as a result of neurodegenerative processes. Scientists believe that both tau and amyloid work together to instigate the disease. Amyloid is believed to facilitate the spread of tau. However, there is no scientific evidence to back up this statement. Amyloid is a general term for protein fragments that the body naturally produces. Beta amyloid is a protein fragment trimmed from an amyloid precursor protein (APP), (O’Brien & Wong 2011). These protein fragments are usually broken down and removed naturally within healthy brains. However, within