Abnormalities Flashcards
What is schizophrenia?
Abnormalities in perception, cognition, and/or emotion
What 3 types of symptoms can people with schizophrenia have?
Positive symptoms (add something), negative symptoms (take something away), cognitive symptoms (attention, speech, etc.)
What is the dopamine hypothesis?
Enhanced dopamine production leads to schizophrenia symptoms, but only works for positive symptoms
What is the glutamate hypothesis?
Glutamate antagonists lead to both positive and negative schizophrenia symptoms because there is disinhibited binding in brains of people with schizophrenia (their inhibitory cells don’t work maybe?)
What is the most common form of dementia?
Alzheimer’s Disease
What is dementia?
The gradual loss of brain function due to physical changes in brain structure
Brain changes that happen with Alzheimer’s Disease patients
Extreme shrinkage of hippocampus and cerebral cortex, and severely enlarged ventricles
2 prominent features of Alzheimer’s Disease in the brain
Plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
Potential cause for Alzheimer’s Disease
A problem with the tau protein!
Tau protein holds together microtubules in neuron.
Problem with tau leads to microtubules disintegrating, which leads to neurofibrillary tangles, which leads to a problem
Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease (although it only causes minor improvements)
Cholinesterase inhibitors!
Cholinesterase breaks down acetylcholine (ACh), which is what carries messages across synapses. Cholinesterase inhibitors allow the message more time to get there
What causes plaques in Alzheimer’s Disease?
The overproduction of beta amyloid!
Produced when amyloid precursor protein (APP), which has a role in synaptic plasticity and memory, is cut in segments by enzymes
What is the cognitive reserve hypothesis?
The more years of education you have and the more you use your brain, the less likely you are to develop Alzheimer’s Disease
What is the “two-hit” model of schizophrenia?
Hit #1: Disruption in the development of the central nervous system, leading to it being vulnerable
Hit #2: Environmental factors! Leads to the development of schizophrenia
