Alzheimer's disease

Or Alz·hei·mer disease

[ahlts-hahy-merz, alts-, awlts-]

noun

Pathology.

1. a common form of dementia, believed to be caused by changes in the brain, usually beginning in late middle age, characterized by memory lapses, confusion, emotional instability, and progressive loss of mental ability.

Alzheimer's disease

/ ˈæltsˌhaɪməz /

noun

1. Often shortened to: Alzheimer's. a disorder of the brain resulting in a progressive decline in intellectual and physical abilities and eventual dementia

Alzheimer's disease

1. A progressive, degenerative disease of the brain, commonly affecting the elderly, and associated with the development of amyloid plaques in the cerebral cortex. It is characterized by confusion, disorientation, memory failure, speech disturbances, and eventual dementia. The cause is unknown. Alzheimer's disease is named for its identifier, German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915).

Alzheimer's disease

1. A disease in which mental capacity decreases because of the breakdown of brain cells.

Alzheimer's disease is a major cause of loss of intellectual function in middle-aged and elderly people.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Alzheimer's disease¹

Named after Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915), German neurologist, who described it in 1907

Word History and Origins

Origin of Alzheimer's disease¹

C20: named after A. Alzheimer (1864–1915), German physician who first identified it

Example Sentences

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have identified a natural process in the brain that can remove existing amyloid plaques in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease while also helping preserve memory and thinking ability.

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For this project, the investigators set out to understand how astrocytes change with age and how those changes relate to Alzheimer's disease.

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"We manipulated the expression of the Sox9 gene to assess its role in maintaining astrocyte function in the aging brain and in Alzheimer's disease models," explained corresponding author Dr. Benjamin Deneen, professor and Dr. Russell J. and Marian K. Blattner Chair in the Department of Neurosurgery, director of the Center for Cancer Neuroscience, member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor and principal investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital.

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"An important point of our experimental design is that we worked with mouse models of Alzheimer's disease that had already developed cognitive impairment, such as memory deficits, and had amyloid plaques in the brain," Choi said.

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"We believe these models are more relevant to what we see in many patients with Alzheimer's disease symptoms than other models in which these types of experiments are conducted before the plaques form."

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