Alzheimer's Disease and Aging

Research into the subject shows that the threat and problem of Alzheimer's disease still represents on of the most serious

medical hazards of the aging process (Dilks, 1985, p. 68). At one time, before the advent of the large body of research on the subject, "senility" was believed to be one of the typical and common characteristics of people as they grew older. The problem with this common belief was that not all older people became "senile" at the same time in life, or was there a real degree of predictability of the problem from individual to individual. These facts gave rise to questions about who became senile, when, and why. As investigation into these problems relating to senility continued it became clear that the degree of variation in the incidence of this condition must be attributable to something beyond simple individual differences. Ultimately, of course, it was determined that the problem of senility in the elderly was by no means a common problem, and that the condition was not the result of the individual's age alone--that, in fact, it was a form of disease. It is the purpose of this paper to examine this significant contemporary medical problem which most often strikes the elderly--Alzheimer's disease, its causes, symptoms, effects, and treatment.

Contrary to the opinions that used to hold that mental deterioration and senility is a common problem resulting from the aging processes, recent research has discovered that, "In the

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of causation are related to specific physical effects in the brain which have been found to accompany the disease: "There is an area of the brain, the hippocampus, which is known to be involved in memory storage. And very recently, one investigator . . . has reported finding a greatly reduced number of neurons in the hippocampus" (Galton, 1979, p. 24). Because of this it has been theorized that there may be some relationship between a decreased blood flow to the hippocampus and the reduced number of neurons which, in turn, produces the ill effects in the memory function typically recognized as Alzheimer's disease. In any case, it seems to be the general opinion that Alzhemer's disease is the product of some chemical, neural, or physical disturbance or upset in the brain, and specifically in the parts of the brain having to do with memory and related functions. Further, it seems to be in the area of the communica-tional links between the neurons in the brain that abnormal functioning takes place, and that, in turn, affects thought processes and behavior. In fact, it is one important agent, which performs this communication function which has been suggested as the primary cause of Alzheimer's disease--acetylcholine: "It is believed

Category: Medical - A