ABSTRACT
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease afflicting a significant proportion of the elderly population. Estimated incidence rates increase from 1% at 65 to between 25 and 40% at age 85 and older. The number of new cases appearing among previously unaffected individuals may be as high as 3% annually in people over age 85.1 The disease is characterized clinically by a progressive loss of memory function and mental impairment (dementia), and histopathologically by the presence, within widespread regions of the brain, of degenerative lesions known as senile plaques (SP) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT).2 Studies in postmortem brain material have revealed multiple disturbances of neurotransmitters, their metabolites, receptors, and enzymes involved in their metabolism. Deficits have been observed for classical neurotransmitter systems such as the cholinergic, serotonergic, dopaminergic, as well as excitatory amino acids and peptides.3
