Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's - Biochemistry & Pharmacology
Brain Pathology
The brain pathology consists mainly of damage in the basal forebrain cholinergic system that innervates the neocortex, hippocampus, and amygdala, but other brain areas are also involved.
The formation of extracellular plaques containing amyloid-b1-42 (Ab) protein and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles characterize the disease and currently provide the main therapeutic targets. The pathological plaques and tangles are believed to cause cholinergic neurons to die in the cortex and hippocampus, where cell loss can exceed 20% per year in early onset AD. |
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In normal brain cells,
amyloid precursor protein (APP) is cut by a-secretase
into soluble fragments that do not accumulate. In AD, APP is cleaved
by b-secretase
instead of a-secretase,
which leads to the release of an insoluble fragment, Other mechanisms of apoptosis (cell death) may also be involved. |
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