Platelets enter into Alzheimer's disease.Platelets enter into Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (ăls`hī'mərz, ôls–), degenerative disease of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex that leads to atrophy of the brain and senile dementia. Several years ago, scientists found that Alzheimer's patients with excess fluid in the surface membranes of their blood platelets blood platelet n. See platelet. develop symptoms earlier -- in their mid-60s and early 70s -- and suffer more debilitating de·bil·i·tat·ing adj. Causing a loss of strength or energy. Debilitating Weakening, or reducing the strength of. Mentioned in: Stress Reduction effects than Alzheimer's patients without the platelet abnormality. The researchers, at the University of Pittsburgh, also found increased platelet-membrane fluid in about half the parents and sibligns of Alzheimer's patients with the biological defect (SN: 11/7/87, p.301). The same group now reports in the October ARCHIVES OF GENERAL PSYCHIATRY Archives of General Psychiatry is a monthly professional medical journal published by the American Medical Association. Archives of General Psychiatry publishes original, peer-reviewed articles about psychiatry, mental health, behavioral science and related fields. that parents and siblings of Alzheimer's patients with elevated platelet-membrane fluidity who develop symptoms of Alzheimer's disease do so significantly earlier -- again in their 60s and early 70s -- than relatives of patients with normal platelet-membrane fluidity. The average age at which the first Alzheimer's symptoms appeared for relatives of patients with increased platelet-membrane fluidity was more than five years younger than for relatives of patients without the potential biological marker. The finding further supports the notion that there is more than one form of Alzheimer's disease, write psychiatrist Gary W. Small and biomathematician David A. Greenberg of the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. , in an accompanying editorial. They say it is also consistent with the hypothesis that multiple genes, possibly including one or more coding for platelet-membrane fluidity, increase a person's risk for Alzheimer's disease. A biological marker may have little or nothing to do with the causes of a disease, Small and Greenberg caution, although platelet abnormalities could indicate alzheimer's is a metabolic disease metabolic disease, n a disorder that causes dysfunction of the metabolic action of the body, resulting in loss of control of homeostasis. paraneoplastic syndrome extending well beyond the brain. "Costly and time-consuming" prospective studies of relatives of Alzheimer's patients are necessary to learn which participants with elevated platelet-membrane fluidity will develop the disease, add the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. researchers. The strength of the biological measure as a diagnostic tool is still unclear. The Pittsburgh study, directed by psychiatrist George S. Zubenko, concentrated on 421 parents and siblings of 43 Alzheimer's patients and of 47 healthy controls. Family members and others who knew each participant well answered a standardized questionnaire designed to distinguish between symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and other disorders, such as stroke, alcoholism and Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease or Parkinsonism, degenerative brain disorder first described by the English surgeon James Parkinson in 1817. When there is no known cause, the disease usually appears after age 40 and is referred to as Parkinson's disease. . |
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