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Alzheimer’s is a degenerative disease in which the nerve cells of the brain are destroyed and the brain substance shrinks.

Stages of Alzheimers disease

I. No impairment. Individuals experience no memory problems and none are evident during a check-up.

II. Very mild cognitive decline. Individuals may feel as if they have memory lapses, especially familiar names  or objects.

III. Friends, family begin to notice deficiencies. Problems with memory or concentration increases.

Healthy Neurons

One hallmark of the disease is the accumulation of amyloid plaques between neurons in the brain. Beta-amyloid is a fragment of a protien that is snipped from amyloid precursor protien.

Diseased neuron

In a healthy brain, the beta-amyloid protien fragments would be broken down and eliminated. In Alzheimer’s disease, the protien fragments accumulate to form hard insoluble plaque in the brain.

Symptoms of alzheimer’s

An early sign of the diesease is forgetfulness. As short-term memory fails, the recall of recent events becomes impaired. The patient may remember events of long ago but not events which happened that day. In the later stages of the disease, patients may lose the ability to carry out most everyday activities.

Source: TOI News Group 

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