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Brain Pathology
Two Classes
• Degenerative and age related – Diffuse
• Focused injuries (Trauma, Tumors,
Vascular accidents, “strokes”)
Degenerative and Age Related–
Diffuse
• Cerebroarteriosclerosis
• Presenile Dementia (neurodegenerative)
– Alzheimer’s Disease
– Pick’s Disease
• Senile Brain Disease
– Distinguished from senility only in degree
–1/10
th
of all new admissions
– Characterized by
• Extreme development of ordinary behavior patter ns
• Deterioration of personal habits
• More likely in women than in men
• Parkinson’s disease
– neurodegenerative disease of motor system
Differential Diagnosis
• Symptoms of Cerebroarteriosclerosis,
Alzheimer’s, Pick’s and Senile Brain
Disease are nearly identical
• Treatment is nearly identical so it doesn’t
matter
• May be able to separate them with
autopsy
• New tests to diagnose Alzheimer’s are
being developed
Alzheimer’s Disease
• Short chain beta-amyloid is normal necessary protein
produced in brain
• Alzheimer’s may be related to damage to the gene that
codes for beta-amyloid
• Alzheimer’s patients have
– Plaques: deposits of long chain beta-amyloid (toxic to neurons)
– Tangles: neurofibrillary growths
– Pack areas of the brain with clutter
– Choke off other neurons
– Begin to die
– Formerly useful pathways become useless
– Brain grows extra dendrites to try to compensate
Symptoms and Sequence of
Deterioration in Alzheimer’s, Pick’s,
and Senile Brain Disease
• Loss of memory
• Disturbances of perception and reasoning
• Speech difficulties increase
• Goal directed behavior deteriorates
• Limited speech, vegetative state
