Neurological Causes of Alzheimer’s Disease
The actual causes of Alzheimer’s disease remain elusive.
Researchers have made some progress in understanding what causes this debilitating condition.
The disease is named after Alois Alzheimer.
He was the first to identify the peculiar plaques and tangles in the brain, which are characteristic of the illness.
Not until the final decades of the twentieth century, Alzheimer’s could only be accurately diagnosed by a post-mortem examination and the careful analysis of the brain tissues.
Due to the ongoing research, scientists are beginning to uncover precisely what is happening and why those characteristic tangles and plaques crop up in the brain.
Many of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are caused by neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. Microscopic filaments clog the neurons.
These filaments are made up of an abnormal kind of protein.
In a normal brain, there is constant transmission of messages from one neuron to another.
But in an Alzheimer’s brain, instead of bonding into message pathways, the neuron messages go nowhere and there is no communication.
Since the neurons are clogged, signals from the environment are no longer transmitted the way they should be.
That is why severe cognitive impairment is one of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
There is a protein called beta-amyloid that causes plaque to develop between the neurons.
This results in the other main damage to the brain in Alzheimer’s disease.
The plaque deposits are sticky patches in the brain which contain beta-amyloid protein.
The plaque blocks communication pathways between neurons, which results in memory problems and learning abilities associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
The degree of cognitive impairment depends on the amount of plaque present.
Acetylcholine, which helps to transmit nerve messages, does not function properly because of the buildup of plaque.
The treatment for Alzheimer’s disease involves using acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, which work by blocking enzymes that consume acetylcholine.
This medication is effective during the early stages of the disease before too much plaque has already built up.
Some research seems to indicate that the plaque causes tangles.
Others believe that both plaques and tangles are the results of other processes. One possible culprit is swollen axons.
Axons are critical for transmitting messages between neurons.
When axons swell, they may block message transmission and perhaps lead to the plaques and tangles which bring on Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists are working hard to uncover and identify the causes of Alzheimer’s disease, which may sooner or later lead to a comprehensive cure for this dreaded condition.
