Here’s What We Think Alzheimer’s Does to the Brain
The main way the disease works is to disrupt communication between neurons, the specialized cells that process and transmit electrical and chemical signals between regions of the brain
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.
Around 50m people worldwide are thought to have Alzheimer’s disease. And with rapidly ageing populations in many countries, the number of sufferers is steadily rising.
We know that Alzheimer’s is caused by problems in the brain. Cells begin to lose their functions and eventually die, leading to memory loss, a decline in thinking abilities and even major personality changes. Specific regions of the brain also shrink, a process known as atrophy, causing a significant loss of brain volume. But what’s actually happening in the brain to cause this?/.../
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