Memantine is a new agent that holds promise, not least because it. acts on a ON-01910 order different neurotransmitter system. A trial of adding drugs together has yet. to be tried, but no doubt will be. The armamentarium with which the clinician has to fight. Alzheimer’s disease has never been greater. Selected abbreviations and acronyms ADAS-Cog Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Schedule-Cognitive Section ADL activities of daily living CDR Clinical Dementia

Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Rating CIBIC+ Clinicians’ Interview-based Impression of Change-plus IDDD Interview for Deterioration in Daily living activities in Dementia MMSE Mini-Mental State Examination NMDA N-methyl-D-aspartate NPI Neuropsychiatric Inventory
In 1907, Alois Alzheimer, a Bavarian psychiatrist, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical reported the case of a middle-aged woman who developed progressive memory loss and cognitive disorders with autopsy findings of neuritic plaque

and neurofibrillary tangles in the cerebral cortex.1 Thereafter, it was named as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, it was only in the 1960s that came to be recognized as the most common cause of dementia in the aged.2 AD currently accounts for at least 60% to 70% of cases of dementia in aged people.3 In the United States, the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical total prevalence of AD is greater than 2.3 million and potentially affects more than 4 million individuals.4 The average duration of AD is 8 to 10 years,

or even shorter. AD has been ranked as the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.2 By the year 2025, over 22 million patients with dementia are expected around the world.5,6 Pathology of Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical AD The pathologic criteria for diagnosis of AD require the presence of both neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, together with a progressive decline in cognitive function.7 The neuritic plaques are composed of aggregations of β-amyloid (Aβ) and are surrounded by dystrophic neurons and astrocytes.8-10 The neurofibrillary tangles consist of intraneuronal aggregations of hyperphosphorylation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical microtubule-associated protein tau.11-14 Reduction in synaptic density and neuronal loss in some specific brain regions, including the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, are also important criteria in the diagnosis of AD.15-19 Clinically, AD is rarely found in people under the age of 65. In patients under this age, it is Rolziracetam called early-onset AD, and if an obvious familial history can be traced, it is called familial AD (FAD). The youngest reported case of AD was found in a 25-ycar-old person.6 In patients with age of onset over 65 years, it is called late-onset AD. The majority of the cases of AD are late-onset.3,20 AD in patients without any family history of the disease is called sporadic AD (SAD). The etiology of AD is not clear. One critical demographic factor is aging.