CNS degenerative disorders Lecture #2 Flashcards
What does Huntington’s disease affect?
-The GABA pathway (it wipes it out)
What are the clinical manifestations of Huntington’s disease?
-Early onset (around 30-40 yrs)
Huntington’s disease is associated with abnormal moves, what are they?
- Chorea forms (sudden/jerky movements)
- Facial grimacing/oral facial movements
What drives the abnormal movements in Huntington’s disease?
-You have too much Dopamine
If you get the huntington’s gene will you get huntington’s?
-Yes it is a genetic disorder
What is the progressive intellectual dysfunction associated with huntingtons disease?
- Decreased judgement
- Withdrawl from others
- Depression
- Schizophrenia
- Become compulsive
What is the incidence of huntingtons disease?
-.01%
What is the duration of diagnosis till death?
-5-10 yrs
What are the features of the pathophysiology of huntingtons disease?
- To much dopamine and cholinergic activity in the striatum
- To little GABA projections
- Lose cell bodies
The lateral ventricles in brain of a person with huntington’s disease are enlarged, why is this the case?
-Because the loss of caudate neurons
What is the cause of huntington’s disease?
-A gene known as huntington gene (deals with NMDA and AMPA receptors)
What happens if you activate NMDA receptors?
-Ionotropic Ca2+ release (causing problems with GABA if too much Ca2+)
How do you diagnose of huntingtons disease?
-Genetic screening for diagnosis
What is the pharmacological treatment for Huntington’s disease?
- DA antagonists (antipsychotics) (D2 antagonists)
- Dopamine agonists for bradykinesia/rigidity
- DA depletion (reserpine) for choreiform movement
- SSRIs for depression
- Antipsychotics for hallucination/delusions
What is haloperidol?
-D2 antagonist
What is Olanzepine?
-atypical anti-psychotic
What can haloperidol lead to?
-Parkinsonism because of the lack of Dopamine
What is the most common degenerative brain disease?
-Alzheimer’s disease (3-4 million)
What is the life expectancy for a person diagnosed with alzheimer’s disease?
-5-20 yrs
What are the three categories of Alzheimer’s disease?
- Early
- Moderate
- Late
How is early memory loss characterized?
-Short term memory
What do you see in early alzheimer’s disease?
- Short term memory loss
- annoying
- Don’t like change
What do you see in moderate alzheimer’s disease?
- Decreased function
- Stop working
- Stop remembering the important things
What do you see in late alzheimer’s disease?
- Decreased motor
- No judgement
- Immobile
- Stop eating
