Alzheimer’s Disease

In the study of neuroscience and neurobiology, the most common disease that is brought up is Alzheimer’s disease. Is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the uptake of new memories with difficulty in learning. The disease affects around 3 million Americans every year with a majority of the people that are effective are over the age of 80. Alzheimer’s disease can be broken down into 2 different schools of thought the first being sporadic Alzheimer this campuses around 90-95 % of cases. Sporadic Alzheimers is primarily due to environmental and genetic factors as we grow older a gene known as APOE-5 tends to be less effective causing a decrease in the controlled response of protein amyloid (APP). As this protein is thought to help in nerve growth and repair after an injury. The second school of thought of Alzheimer’s is known as Fimial Alzheimer’s this is a rare form of Alzheimer’s as it occurs earlier in life around the age of 40. This is caused by the PSEN-1 and the PSEN-2 gene and is commonly tied up with Down syndrome as PSEN genes translate for an extra copy of the APP protein this is dangerous because an increase in the cleavage of the Amyloid beta protein creates more plack that can disrupt nero chemical synapses. 

The symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease can differ between classes of patients but the most common symptom is dementia. This is caused by the build-up of the APP protein although this protein is used for repair of the neron after long-term use it begins to degrade and needs to be cleaved. But over time due to the biochemical properties of APP, the molecule tend to clump up together creating neurochemical plaques. This will then disrupt the synaptic signaling of the neuron and prevent the uptake of key nutrients needed for cellular function. This will in turn cause cell death of neurons over a period of time the cells will begin to shrink brain size and connections. This is devastating for patients health as they start to lose small memories at first but as the disease progress, it will impact problem-solving skills and short-term memories. An example of the early stages of symptoms is when a person has difficulty creating and following a plan or working with numbers. This can manifest in being unable to track dates or messaging a budget, even forgetting their car keys in the vehicle. The second stage of the disease can be confusing and understanding significant events. An example of this is forgetting a conversation that just transpired or misplacing items. Another symptom that can occur in the second stage is the inability to understand relationships, balance, or read. As some patients have reported having trouble with vocabulary an example may be saying a watch is a hand clock. The third stage of Alzheimer’s disease is known to be an extreme form of dementia this is when people forget their close family members like a parent or a spouse. This is attributed to a decrease in brain size as it tries to preserve its structure inorder to maintain boldly function to say alive.  But there are ways to prevent Alzhemier’s disease by maintaing a health life style like being physicaly active,eating nutritious food and geting 8 hours of sleep. By taking epigenetic actions we are able to combat Alzhemiers disease as takeing action early by visiting a clinical professional can also prevent or decreass the saverity of symtoms for Alzhemiers disease.

Work cited: 

CDC, CDC. “Reducing Risk of Alzheimer's Disease.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13 Sept. 2022, https://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications/features/reducing-risk-of-alzheimers-disease/index.htm. 

Association, Alzheimer's. “10 Early Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer's.” Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia, 2023, https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/10_signs. 

Elsevier, Osmosis, director. Alzheimer's Disease - Plaques, Tangles, Causes, Symptoms & Pathology. YouTube, 22 Mar. 2016, https://youtu.be/v5gdH_Hydes. Accessed 30 Apr. 2023.