tangles. Many neuropathologists think that these plaques are basically clusters of degenerating nerve cells. But they are still not sure of how and why these fragments clustered together. Congophilic Angiopathy is the technical name that neuropathologists have given to an abnormality found in the walls of blood vessels in the brains of victims of Alzheimer's disease. These abnormal patches are similar to the neuritic plaques that develop in Alzheimer's disease, in that amyloid has been found within the blood-vessel walls wherever the patches occur. Another name for these patches is cerebrovascular amyloid, meaning amyloid found in the blood vessels of the brains. Acetylcholine is a substance that carries signals from one nerve cell to another. It is known to be important to learning and memory. In the mid 1970s, scientists found that the brains of those afflicted with Alzheimer's disease contained sixty to ninety percent less of the enzyme choline acetyltransferase(CAT), which is responsible for producing acetylcholine, than did the brains of healthy persons. This was a great milestone, as it was the first functional change related to learning and memory, and not to different structures. Somatostatin is another means by which cells in the brain communicate with each other. The quantities of this chemical messenger, like those of CAT, are also greatly decreased in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus of persons with Alzheimer's disease, almost to the same degree as CAT is lost. Although scientists have been able to identify many of these, and other changes, they are not yet sure as to how, or why they take place in Alzheimer's disease. One could say, that they have most of the pieces of the puzzle; all that is left to do is find the missing piece and decipher the meaning. If treatment is required for someone with Alzheimer's disease, then the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association(ADRDA), a privately funded, national, n...
