Alzheimer's Disease Flashcards
Alzheimer’s is a ________ _________ disorder
Progressive neurodegenerative
How do we manage behavior for AD pts?
- Familiar environment
- surround with familiar and comforting objects
- orientation program to include consistency in caregivers
- structured activities
- routine and predictability in day
In AD, how does neuronal atrophy often manifest?
- get volume loss in cortex
- enlarge lateral ventricles
Neurofibrillary tangles =
cytoskeletal tau proteins that become hyperphosphorylated
Neurofibrillary tangles (tau proteins) are accumulated where?
intracellular environment
Amyloid plaques accumulate here
extracellular environment
What do neurofibrillary tangles and plaques result in?
- widespread inflammation and death of cholinergic cells in the limbic system
- i.e. hippocampal cholinergic neurons
AD causes the loss of
- memory
- executive function
- cognition
- intellectual functions
What is the biggest risk factor for AD?
age
Typical onset is (early/late)
late
Two types of AD
- sporadic form (later onset)
- familial AD (early onset)
Sporadic form of AD occurs when? Why?
- 70s
- not sure why
Familial AD
- much more aggressive than sporadic
- associated with specific gene mutations
- uncommon
What are some of the methodologies for AD behavioral management?
- keep pt in familiar environment with comforting objects
- orientation program, including keeping consistency with caregivers if possible
- structured activities
- routine and predictability in day
What is the AB hypothesis?
- mutations increase enzymatic cleavage of amyloid precursor protein
- crappy stuff sticks together
- as we age, we lose the ability to clear it effectively
- accumulated proteins gum up the works
What happens when abnormal proteins gum up the works?
Impedes communication between neurons
What happens to neurons that can’t communicate?
they die
Where does the amyloid plaque accumulate?
OUTSIDE the neurons in the extracellular space
What is the amyloid precursor protein?
- housekeeper that contributes to normal neuronal function
- we don’t really know what it does
Cleavage of amyloid precursor protein: normal vs. abnormal
- happens as we age anyway
- there’s a normal and abnormal way
- crappy stuff likes to stick together
What helps clear out crap amyloid?
sleep (“flushes the toilet on your day”)
Function of microtubules
- retrograde and anterograde transport (among many other functions)
- delivery of stuff from the axon terminal to the cell body and vice versa
Microtubules: How are they dynamic?
- constantly polymerizing and depolymerizing
- based on what the cell needs
What is the stabilizing protein for microtubules?
tau
