Alzheimers And The Brain

Degenerative Disease Of The Brain

Alzheimers and the brain have a strict relation.

Alzheimers brain disease is a degenerative disease of the brain. Understanding how the anatomy of the Alzheimers and the brain differs from a normal brain gives us insight. It can help us cope better with the changes that happen to our loved ones as a result of this debilitating disease.

In Alzheimer's disease the appearance of the Alzheimer's affected brain is very different to a normal brain - see image.

Alzheimers disease is one of a various number of neurological disorders.

Normal Brain & Alzheimer Brain

A section of normal brain tissue (left) and one from Alzheimer's (right).

For more pictures: Alzheimers pictures.

Brain Anatomy

• The frontal lobe,
  located behind the forehead, is involved with controlling responses to input from the rest of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). It is responsible for voluntary movement, emotion, planning and execution of behavior, intellect, memory, speech, and writing.
• The parietal lobe,
  located above the ear, receives and interprets sensations of pain pressure, temperature, touch, size, shape, and body part awareness.
• The temporal lobe,
  located behind the ear, is involved in understanding sounds and spoken words, as well as emotion and memory.
• The occipital lobe,
  located at the back of the head, is involved in understanding visual images and the meaning of the written word.

The hippocampus plays a crucial role in learning and in processing various forms of information as long-term memory. Damage to the hippocampus produces global amnesia.

Massive Cell Loss

Here is a view of how massive cell loss changes the whole brain in advanced Alzheimer's disease. This slide shows a crosswise "slice" through the middle of the brain between the ears.

In the Alzheimer brain:

• The cortex shrivels up, damaging areas involved in thinking, planning and remembering.
• Shrinkage is especially severe in the hippocampus, an area of the cortex that plays a key role in formation of new memories.
• Ventricles (fluid-filled spaces within the brain) grow larger.

More Information:

About brain cells, plaques and tangles: brain cells, plaques and tangles

Other Brain disorders

Look here for an overview of 20 brain disorders:

From Alzheimers And The Brain to Brain Disorders.

From Alzheimer And The Brain back to the Homepage