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Pathways towards and away from Alzheimer's disease

An Addendum to this article was published on 02 September 2004

Abstract

Slowly but surely, Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients lose their memory and their cognitive abilities, and even their personalities may change dramatically. These changes are due to the progressive dysfunction and death of nerve cells that are responsible for the storage and processing of information. Although drugs can temporarily improve memory, at present there are no treatments that can stop or reverse the inexorable neurodegenerative process. But rapid progress towards understanding the cellular and molecular alterations that are responsible for the neuron's demise may soon help in developing effective preventative and therapeutic strategies.

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Figure 1: Alzheimer's disease results in shrinkage of brain regions involved in learning and memory which is correlated with major reductions in cellular energy metabolism in living patients.
Figure 2: The neurotoxic action of Aβ involves generation of reactive oxygen species and disruption of cellular calcium homeostasis.
Figure 3: Strategies and targets for the prevention and treatment of AD.

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Mattson, M. Pathways towards and away from Alzheimer's disease. Nature 430, 631–639 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02621

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