Neurological dysfunctions in Alzheimer disease

Aging of the brain is accompanied by multiple changes in morphology and functional variations at the cellular and molecular levels of nerve cells. Neuritic plaques, one of the two diagnostic brain lesions observed in Alzheimer’s original patient, are microscopic foci of extracellular amyloid deposition. They are associated with axonal and dendritic injury, and are generally found in large numbers in the limbic and association cortices (Dickson, 1997).