aaaaaaah! beware the amyloid plague!!!
this headline caught my eye. a viral factor for alzheimer’s? could be fascinating, if you’re a public health geek like me.
but no, someone just misspelled “plaque”. shucks.
this headline caught my eye. a viral factor for alzheimer’s? could be fascinating, if you’re a public health geek like me.
but no, someone just misspelled “plaque”. shucks.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:15 pm
This is still totally fascinating. I wonder, then, why Aricept shows a slowing of the progression of the illness by slowing the buildup of the proteins that create the plaque?
Who knows, though, maybe a virus could still be an environmental trigger??
July 21st, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Aricapt is not a disease modifying drug, so it does not actually alter the plaque build up but instead increases the activity of cholinergic neurons in the brain which returns them temporarily to a state of function roughly 6 months to a year prior to starting the med - effectively it overcomes the inhibition of nueronal function caused by the plaques. The decline in cognitive function continues with or without the use of aricept. Other cognitive nehancers may have some disease modifying properties and the meds likely to hit the market in the next few years are moving in this direction.