Neuro Degenerative Diseases Flashcards
What are the 2 parts of the skull
Neurocranium and viscerocranium
What are the 3 membranous layers around the brain
Dura matter
Arachnoid matter
Pia matter
Which space is CSF in?
Subarachnoid space
What does the frontal lobe control?
Higher cognitive functions
What does the parietal lobe control?
Sensory input - representation and integration
Spatial discrimination
Taste
Receptive speech
What does the occipital lobe control?
Visual input and processing
Where is the insula found in the brain?
Lies medial to / or added to the temporal lobe
What does the insula control?
- vestibular function
- language
- perception of visceral sensation
- emotions
- limbic functions
What does the limbic (or cingulate cortex) control?
Influences emotions and autonomic functions
What does the cerebellum control?
Balance, Motor co-ordination, Tone And Posture
What does the brainstem control?
Conveys motor, sensory and autonomic information between the higher centres and the rest of the body
What does the thalamus control?
Gateway to the cortex - relay centre between cortex and sub cortex
What does the basal ganglia contain?
- several deep grey matter nuclei within the forebrain, midbrain and diencephalon
- caudate nucleus, pudamen, globus, pallidus/pallidum, substantia nigra and subthalamic nucleus
What is within the limbic complex?
Cingulate gurus
Splenic gyrus
Hippocampus
Parahippocampal gyrus
Fornix
Dentate gyrus
What are the 3 parts of the sub cortical layer?
Thalamus
Basal ganglia
Limbic complex
Most common types of neurodegenerative diseases
~ Alzheimer’s disease
~ vascular dementia
~ Parkinson’s
Other neurodegenerative diseases
+ FTD - Frontal temporal dementia
+ ALS - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
+ spinocerebella ataxia
+ multiple system atrophy
+ Lewy body dementia
+ Huntingtons disease
+ Frederick’s ataxia
+ corticobasal degeneration
+ progressive supreanuclear palsy
+ prion disease
what are the 2 clinical manifestations of neurodegenerative diseases?
- Dementia
- Movement disorder
What things come under dementia?
Gradual progressive impairment of higher cognitive functions
- memory
- judgement/planning
- personality
- language
- visuopsatial orientation
What things come under movement disorder?
Most common - Parkinsonism
Others include
* ataxia
*Chorea
* Muscle atrophy
*tremors
*rigidity
* Bradykinesia
What is Ataxia?
A group of disorders affecting co-ordination, balance and speech
What is Chorea?
Involuntary, irregular or unpredictable muscle movements.
What is bradykinesia?
Slowness of movement
What are the different types of dementia?
~ Alzheimer’s disease
~ vascular dementia
~ Lewy body dementia
~ Frontotemporal dementia
~ CJD (creutzfeld-Jakob disease) and other prion diseases
They can co-exist
Which 2 other neurodegenerative diseases can cause dementia?
Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease
What are the risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease?
Increased incidence with age
Family history
What is the clinical presentation of Alzheimer’s?
Loss of higher cognitive functions eg:memory
What is the pathology associated with Alzheimer’s?
Beta amyloid protein forms plaques
Neurofibbrillary tangles of tau protein
What are the risk factors for vascular dementia?
increased incidence with age
Athlerosclerosis
Hypertension
What is the clinical presentation for vascular dementia ?
Loss of higher cognitive function eg: memory
What is the pathology associated with vascular dementia?
Accumulation of cortical infarcts/ white matter lesions
What are the risk factors for Lewy body dementia?
Increased incidence with age
Family history including of PD (Parkinson’s)
What is the clinical presentation of Lewy body dementia?
Loss of higher cognitive function eg: memory
- Parkinsonism (lesss tremor)
- hallucinations, fluctuation typical
What is the associated pathology with Lewy body dementia?
Lewy bodies accumulate in the brain
Affects the brainstem/ basal ganglia
What are the risk factors for frontotemporal dementia?
Usually appears between 45 - 65
Family history
What is the clinical presentation of FT dementia?
Loss of higher cognitive functions
typically personality/ behaviour issues / aphasia before memory loss
What is the associated pathology of FT dementia?
Focal degeneration of the frontal/temporal lobes
Tau protein deposits
What are the risk factors for Parkinson’s?
Increased incidence with age
Family history
10 - 15% familial
What are the clinical presentations of Parkinson’s disease?
Parkinsonism (tremor)
Many other symptoms including : demitasse, sleep issues, bowel issues, dizziness
What is the associated pathology for Parkinson’s disease?
Lewy bodies
Loss of neurones in substantia nigra
What are the 3 Parkinson’s plus syndromes?
- Progressive suprenuclear palsy
- Multiple system atrophy
3.Corticobasal degeneration
What is Huntington’s disease?
Movement disorder : autosomal dominant trinucleotide repeat genetic disease
Loss of GABAergic neurones in basal ganglia
Atrophy of putamen and caudate nucleus (dorsal striatum)
Cognitive, motor and behavioural features that are ultimately fatal
What is Friederich Ataxia?
Autosomal recessive disease: most common here dietary ataxia
Progressive ataxia, spasticity, weakness, cardiomyopathy and sensory neuropathy.
Begins in the 1st decade of life with gait ataxia, hand clumsiness and dysarthria,
Wheelchair bound within 5 years and death by 40-50
Impaired vibration and proprioception, pain, temperature and light touch.
What does ALS stand for?
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
What is ALS
- Most common motor neurone disease
-Progressive loss of motor neurones
-Males slightly more affected - presents from 5th Decade of life usually
-Sporadic and familial - toxic protein acumulation - progressive weakness and eventually death due to respiratory insufficiency
What are Prion diseases?
A group of disorders caused by prions - abnormal forms of a cellular protein that cause rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disorders
May be sporadic, familial or transmitted
