Images Dated 21st August 2002

Hands with Alzheimers brain and healthy one

Alzheimer's disease affected brain. Glovedhands comparing a brain segment affected byAlzheimer's disease with a healthy one. Thesegment affected by Alzheimer's disease is on theleft. It appears shrunken, and the fissures arenoticeably larger. Alzheimer's disease is aprogressive brain wasting condition which leads tothe formation of tangles of nerve fibres andplaques of the protein amyloid. Thisinterferes with the normal working of the brainleading to dementia, characterised by memory loss, personality changes, psychosis and eventually andinevitably death. It usually sets in around theage of 65, and there is no cure

© Simon Fraser/Mrc Unit, Newcastle General Hospital/Science Photo Library