Correlation Between Elevated Levels of Amyloid [beta]-Peptide in the Brain and Cognitive Decline
Article Abstract:
The abnormal form of amyloid beta peptide begins to accumulate even before elderly people begin to experience the dementia typical of Alzheimer disease. Patients with Alzheimer disease have excess amounts of this protein as well as an abnormal tau protein. Researchers measured the level of both proteins in brain tissue of 79 nursing home residents who had died. Levels of amyloid beta protein were increased even in patients with no significant symptoms of dementia. Abnormal amyloid beta deposits preceded the accumulation of abnormal tau protein.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 2000
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Cholinergic Markers in Elderly Patients With Early Signs of Alzheimer Disease
Article Abstract:
Drugs to preserve brain function in Alzheimer's patients may only be effective in patients with severe dementia. One of the hallmalks of Alzheimer's disease is the loss of a type of nerve cell called cholinergic nerve cells. These cells use acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter. Researchers measured acetylcholine activity in the autopsy brain samples of 66 elderly nursing home patients who had died. Only those with severe dementia while alive had decreased acetylcholine activity. Those with no, mild, or moderate, dementia had normal acetylcholine activity.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1999
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Challenging the Cholinergic Hypothesis in Alzheimer Disease
Article Abstract:
A 1999 study challenges the idea that the intellectual decline that precedes the development of Alzheimer's disease involves a deficiency of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brain. The researchers found that only people with advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease had low levels of acetylcholine. If this is true, then some other factor might be involved in the early stages of dementia. Other researchers believe degeneration in the hippocampus may cause memory loss in the early stages of the disease. This area of the brain uses glutamate as a neurotransmitter.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1999
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