Neurodegenerative Diseases (Neuropath CPC2) Flashcards
lesions and components of Alzheimer’s disease
senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
amyloid b and tau
ALS lesions and components
cytoplasmic inclusions and spheroids
ubiquitin/TDP-43 and neurofilaments
lesions and components of Parkinson’s Dz Dementia with Lewy Bodies
Lewy bodies
alpha-synuclein
lesions and components of tauopathies
neuronal and glial tangles
tau
frontotemporal dementia lesions and components
cytoplasmic and nuclear inclusions
ubiquitin/TDP-43
multiple systems atrophy lesions and components
glial cytoplasmic inclusions
alpha-synclein
prion disease lesions and components
spongiform degeneration & prion plaques
prion protein
short term memory
- Ability to retain and manipulate information for short periods of time (seconds to minutes)
- Dependent on attentional processes, processing speed
- Impaired with lesions of the frontal lobes, but also with diffuse brain disease
- Impairments lead to inefficient initial acquisition of information
long term memory
- Ability to retain information after delay or distraction (days to months)
- Benefits from rehearsal (e.g. studying for a test)
what does LT memory rely on? what happens if impaired?
- Depends on mesial temporal lobe function
- Impairments lead to anterograde amnesia
a. Failure to recall newly learned information, starting at the time of brain injury
b. Preservation of previously learned information
c. Most common form of memory impairment
what kind of lesion impairs ST memory?
frontal lobes and diffuse brain disease
remote memory
- Ability to retain well-learned information from the remote past (years)
- Information thought to be represented more diffusely in the cortex
a. Therefore relatively preserved after mesial temporal lobe injury
b. Patients with dementia often remember earlier life reasonably well - Well preserved in most clinical settings
when do you see impairment of remote memory?
Deficits in recollection of well-learned information comprise retrograde amnesia and can be seen in more severe stages of dementia
what part of brain is responsible for explicit memory?
medial temporal lobe
what part of brain is responsible for implicit memory?
neural structures outside of medial temporal lobe
what are hemispheric differences?
i. Left hemisphere: Tends to have larger role in verbal memory
ii. Right hemisphere: Tends to have larger role in visuospatial memory
what is diagnostic criteria for dementia?
Diagnostic criteria (DSM-IV) entail impairment of memory and at least one of the following:
i. Disturbances of language (word-finding difficulties)
ii. Disturbances of praxis (inability to execute skilled motor activities in the absence of weakness)
iii. Disturbances of visual processing (visual agnosia and constructional disturbances)
iv. Disturbances of executive function (including abstract reasoning and concentration)
what is dementia?
The gradual onset and continuing decline of cognitive function from a previously higher level, resulting in impairment in social or occupational function
what are early symptoms of AD?
i. Deficits in delayed recall
ii. Language difficulties
iii. Visuospatial deficits
iv. Deficits in reasoning and related functional impairments
v. Alterations in Mood or Behavior
what are treatable dementia syndromes?
a. Vitamin B12 deficiency
b. Neurosyphilis
c. Normal pressure hydrocephalus
d. Chronic subdural hematomas
e. Chronic meningitis
f. Paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis (can improve with identification and treatment of neoplasm)
g. “Pseudodementia” of depression
what are features that make AD unlikely?
a. Sudden, apoplectic onset
b. Focal neurologic findings such as hemiparesis, sensory loss, visual field deficits, and incoordination early in the course of the illness
c. Seizures or gait disturbances at the onset or very early in the course of the illness
