Alzheimer's connected to variant that affects navigational network

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Summary: This article begins by questioning the association between the amount of activity in grid cell networks and the risk for developing Alzheimer’s. These networks are said to be navigational brain cells, found in the entorhinal, which is where Alzheimer’s develops. A study of two groups was conducted; one group with the APOE-e4 variant and the other without; neither of these groups showed symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Having the APOE-e4 variant is said to be the largest genetic risk factor and leading cause of Alzheimer’s diagnosis later in life. The results of this study was as hypothesized, those who carried APOE-e4 variant showed fewer grid-like representations of grid cell networks while participating in the trial. Although they showed less grid-like representations, their ability to carry out the task like the group without this APOE-e4 variant did not differ. The research was then focused on the brain compensating for lack of these networks. Axmacher suggests that activity was being navigated to the hippocampus only in the group carrying the variant.


Connection: I chose this article because Alzheimer’s disease has been an interest of mine since my grandmother was diagnosed. It was difficult to deal with the symptoms of confusion and irritability, but it was even harder that I couldn’t understand her at times. This article interested me because this APOE-e4 variant is a genetic risk factor only found in some people, which produced fewer grid cell network connections. This article connected with content learned in the course because Alzheimer's is characterized by brain deterioration, impaired memory, and other mental abilities. When discussing the brain, we learned about the connections and the importance of convolutions. Due to the deterioration of many important neural networks, it is no surprise that the navigational network was thought to be a risk to developing Alzheimer's. Earlier in the semester we discussed the gyri and the sulci of the brain. The physical affects in Alzheimer's is the increase in the size of the sulci and decrease of the gyri. The temporal lobe is also affected in this disease which causes the hippocampus to malfunction in recalling memory. Frontal lobes are also affected due to neural transmission interference from clumps of protein, known as plaques, and also the death of neurons and brain cells due to neurofibrillary tangles. 

 http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/10/alzheimer-s-disease-tied-brain-s-navigation-network

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