What causes Alzheimer’s Disease?
What is Alzheimer’s disease?
What is Alzheimer’s disease? Simply put, Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects different areas of the brain. One of the more sinister neurodegenerative disorders, Alzheimer’s disease robs victims of their memories, personalities, higher-level thought processes, and even motor skills. It is mostly a disease associated with the elderly and has a high mortality rate. Alzheimer’s is a chronic, and progressive disease. That means that for now, it is incurable, and its severity progresses with age.
What causes Alzheimer’s?
The truth is, no one knows exactly what causes Alzheimer’s. There are many different hypotheses that speculate as to what the cause might be, but more than likely there are many contributing factors that can bring about Alzheimer’s in an individual. One such example is genetics. For some people, mental illness runs in their families. This does not mean that someone is guaranteed to get Alzheimer’s just because their grandparents got it, but it does mean that the individual in question might be at a higher risk than others.
Another contributing factor could be sleep. Sleeping is essential for the brain and the body, and there are many different processes that happen in the body when we sleep. One such study has shown that sleep-deprived individuals have a higher concentration of Amyloid Beta proteins in their bodies than people who get the full amount of sleep required.
How does Alzheimer’s affect the brain?
When an individual gets Alzheimer’s there are a few different chemical reactions that occur in the brain. The brain produces a protein known as Amyloid-Beta. This protein is a metabolic waste product that is produced over time by the brain. Normally, our brains do a pretty good job of cleaning this waste product up, but as we age cleaning this waste product up tends to get harder and harder for the brain.
The problems start to occur when Amyloid Beta runs into another protein located in our brains. Galectin-3 is a naturally occurring protein found in all manner of human tissues including brain tissue. When Galectin-3 runs into Amyloid Beta the Galectin-3 starts to act as a “glue”. Amyloid-Beta then becomes very “sticky” and starts clumping with itself. When enough Amyloid Beta has built up it begins sticking to neurons in the brain. This in turn causes the neurons to not operate as well as they should be. They become slower, and information starts getting blocked.
Think of neurons like a highway, and the amyloid Beta as snow. When it gets really snowy, traffic has to slow down. Accidents tend to happen more often and traffic gets backed up. The only way for everything to return to normal is for the plow trucks to come out and get rid of the snow on the highway. Unfortunately for people with Alzheimer’s, their neuron highways are lacking plow trucks and the “snowy” amyloid-beta just gets thicker and thicker until everything shuts down.
When these information highways begin to shut down we start to see some of the symptoms that come with Alzheimer’s disease. Some of these symptoms include things like memory loss, loss of motor function, and confusion. It’s important to understand that Alzheimer’s disease is considered a “whole brain” disease. This means that it doesn’t just affect one specific aspect of the brain but multiple parts. Everyone who has Alzheimer’s disease tends to have different types of symptoms to varying degrees.
Sources:
What Causes Alzheimer's Disease? | Alzheimer's Association
Sleep deprivation increases Alzheimer’s protein | National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Alzheimer's disease - Causes - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Alzheimer's disease - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic
What Causes Alzheimer's Disease? | National Institute on Aging (nih.gov)
What Happens to the Brain in Alzheimer's Disease? | National Institute on Aging (nih.gov)