The Brain and Alzheimer's Disease
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Alzheimer's disease
attacks nerve cells in several regions of the brain
A. Cerebral Cortex:
Involved in conscious thought and language.
B. Basal forebrain:
Has large numbers of neurons containing acetylcholine, a chemical important in memory and learning.
C. Hippocampus: (the dark spiral shape seen in the middle)
Essential to memory storage.
The earliest signs of Alzheimer's are found in the nearby *entorhinal cortex* (not shown)
Hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease include neuritic plaques, (outside neurons), and neurofibrillary tangles (inside neurons).
After reading the above information, I contacted ADEAR and asked for more specific info concerning the entrohinal cortex since it was something I had never heard of. What follows is their description.
The last sentence however, is my own comment.
**The Entorhinal Cortex is a very small area located next to the hippocampus and is thought to be like a way-station. In otherwords, after memories are formed, it must pass through the entorhinal cortex to get to the hippocampus where the memory is stored.**
Which MAY explain why the hippocampus is one of the first areas to be affected by Alzheimer's.
~Special Note~
The above information was supplied to me by ADEAR
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