Understanding and the cause of Alzheimers

1. Alzheimer’s Disease
Mr. Iswar Hazarika M. Pharm, (PhD)
Assistant Professor
College of Pharmaceutical science,
DSU

2. To start with..
• Forgot your name!!
• Got lost in your neighbourhood!
• Putting the ice tray in the oven instead of the
freezer.

4. Dementia is loss of memory
Retrograde amnesia (RA) is a loss of
memory-access to events that occurred, or
information that was learned, before an
injury or the onset of a disease.

5. Movie: Notebook

6. Movie: Rise of the planet of the apes

7. Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s is a progressive
neurodegenerative disorder that gradually
destroys a person’s memory, ability to learn,
reasoning, making judgments,
communicate and carry out daily activities.

8. Alzheimer’s Disease
• First described by German psychiatrist
-Alois Alzheimer (1906)
•Generally diagnosed in people over 65
years of age
-Early-onset (before 65); only 5-10% of patients
-Several genetic causes
• 1 in 6 women over 55; 1 in 10 men over 55

10. What’s Normal What’s Not
Forgetting your ATM
number or where you
parked.
Forgetting what an ATM
card is or what kind of car
you own.
Forgetting what you were
about to say
Forgetting how to do an
everyday task, like writing
a check.
Forgetting which day of
the week you had a dental
appointment
Getting lost in your own
neighborhood.
Misplacing of losing your
keys or phone
Putting the ice tray in the
oven instead of the freezer
Forgetting the name of the
person who sits in front of
you in class
Forgetting who your family
members are

11. Symptoms

13. Basic anatomy of Brain

17. Etiology and Pathogenesis

18. Etiology & Pathogenesis
Several competing hypotheses:
1. Cholinergic hypothesis
2. Amyloid hypothesis
3. Tau hypothesis
4. Genetic cause
5. Recent development

19. 1. Cholinergic hypothesis
-↓ acetylcholine in Cortex and
Hippocampus
↓
- ↓perception, memory, judgment

20. 2. Amyloid hypothesis
Abnormal breakdown of Amyloid precursor protein (APP)
↓
buildup of amyloid beta deposits
↓
Damaged amyloid proteins build to toxic levels
↓
call damage and death

21. 3. Tau hypothesis
-Caused by tau protein
abnormalities
↓
-Formation of
neurofibrillary tangles

22. tangle
plaques

23. 4. Genetic Cause
mutations in one of three genes encoding:
-Amyloid precursor protein (APP)
-Presenilins 1
-Presenilins 2

24. 5. Disturbance of
Glymphatic system
↓Sleep
↓
↓ drainage
↓
Waste removal from brain
↓
Accumulation of Amyloid
plaque and Tangles
↓
Alzheimer
Recent development

25. http://www.alz.org/brain/14.asp

26. http://www.ahaf.org/alzheimers/about/understanding/brain-with-alzheimers.html

27. Cleared by glymphatics

28. Risk Factors
• Obesity
• Sleep apnea
• Heavy alcohol use
• High blood pressure
• Head trauma
• High cholesterol
• Diabetes
• Depression
• Lower rates in highly educated
– Beneficial consequences of learning and
memory

29. Diagnosis of AD
 patient history:
 collateral history from relatives,
 clinical observations, based on the presence/absence of
certain neuropsychological features
 Medical imaging:
 computed tomography (CT) or
 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and with
 single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT) or
 positron emission tomography (PET)
 Confirmatory diagnosis: can be examined histologically
post mortem

30. .
PET scan of the brain of a person with AD showing a loss
of function in the temporal lobe.

32. Any questions?

33. Thank you!!