[radialnerves]

RADIUM [Ra]⁸⁸

SHE/HER/THEY/THEM/HE/HIM

Note from the Author: Hi! I'm Radium, this blog was made as a result of a personal pursuit of information.

Please ensure to be respectful and maintain empathy for all.

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LEARNING WITH RADIUM

A LOG OF HEALTH CONDITIONS AND OTHER PATHOLOGIES

AWARENESS AND EDUCATION

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[radialnerves]

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

WHAT IS ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE?

a fatal neurodegenerative disease that is the most common cause of dementia. it is progressive and worsens over time.

what is dementia?

it is an umbrella term which describes serious deteriorations in mental function, such as memory, language, orientation and judgement.

the first symptoms of alzheimer's is seen in the loss of the hippocampus - the area of the brain that deals with memory.

in patients suffering from alzheimer's disease, the neurones malfunction, leading to cell death. this results in incorrect chemical and electrical signalling between nerve cells.

MECHANISM OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

post-mortem, within an alzheimer's patient's brain are senile plaques which consists of short amyloid-beta peptides. These are formed by a larger membrane bound amyloid precursor protein (APP)

LIPID RAFTS/CHOLESTEROL

amyloid-beta peptides are formed when APP undergoes proteolysis (protein breakdown) in the cholesterol-rich lipid rafts. (An area in the plasma membrane dense with sphingolipids + cholesterol, leading the organisation of signalling molecules and their compartmentalisation)

Cleavage (or proteolysis) of APP in other regions of the membrane, prevents the formulation of toxic amyloid beta.

As a result, differences in the structure of the membrane of the individual may affect amyloid beta production, and the progression of Alzheimer's as a result.

AMYLOID BETA PEPTIDES -> AMYLOID PLAQUES

Accumulation of amyloid beta outside cells form amyloid plaques. These characterise Alzheimer's disease in patients.

Additionally, aggregation of abnormally-phosphorylated tau proteins into intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles is another key characteristic of the disease.

This second paragraph may be harder to understand, so I will be breaking it down; to phosphorylate means to add a Phosphate to a molecule. This is an essential process in biology, and I would recommend learning further about it.

Tau normally stables microtubules in the brain, preventing breakdown. These microtubules are important for neuronal structure and intercellular (between cells) transport.

Excessive or abnormal phosphorylation of tau proteins leads to a "tangle formation" and oligomerisation (where small monomers link together to form a larger chain.) This leads to microtubule destabilisation.