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Molecular and Cell Biology of Neuropsychiatric Diseases pp 92–109Cite as

The molecular genetics of Alzheimer’s disease

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Part of the book series: Molecular and Cell Biology of Human Diseases Series ((Mol. Cell Biol. Hu. Dis.))

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common disorder whose prevalence rises steeply with age from less than 1% at age 65 years to at least 20% and possibly as high as 36% in the ninth decade (Mortimer, Schuman and French, 1981; Pfeffer, Afifi and Chance, 1987). Neuropathological studies (Tomlinson, Blessed and Roth, 1970) indicate that approximately 50% of cases of severe dementia are due to AD, 20% to multi-infarct dementia (MID) and a further 20% to mixed AD/MID. The senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that are characteristically seen in the brains of those dying with AD were first described in 1907 by a Bavarian psychiatrist, Alois Alzheimer. In the last ten years there has been a rapid advance in understanding the molecular events that underlie these neuropathological changes. Some of this work will be briefly discussed here as it forms the background against which recent studies in molecular genetics have taken place.

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  1. Michael J. Owen
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, University of Manchester, UK

    Frank Owen

  2. Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, UMIST, UK

    Ruth Itzhaki

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Owen, M.J. (1994). The molecular genetics of Alzheimer’s disease. In: Owen, F., Itzhaki, R. (eds) Molecular and Cell Biology of Neuropsychiatric Diseases. Molecular and Cell Biology of Human Diseases Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0709-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0709-9_4

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