urofibrillary tangles themselves cause cell death. "The neurofibrillary tangles may not be involved in causing cell death in any way," said Feinstein. "They may simply be a downstream consequence of tau dysfunction." The exact mechanism of neuronal cell death "is enormously important because to develop effective drugs, we need to know precisely what molecular steps need to be affected."

Although progressive mental deterioration has been recognized and described throughout history, Alzheimers disease was first described by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1906 following his work with his patient "August D." and a subsequent autopsy that revealed the now familiar neuritic plaque and neurofibrillary tangles that mark the disease.

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Contact: Gail Gallessich
gail.g@ia.ucsb.edu
805-893-7220
University of California - Santa Barbara
29-Jul-2003

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