Timeline

=Research History of Alzheimer's Disease =


 * **1901** - **Dr. Alois Alzheimer examined 51 year old female patient, Auguste Deter. She presented with impaired cognitive functioning characteristic of dementia, but at an uncharacteristic age. Her symptoms included aphasia, disorientation and impaired memory. She was diagnosed with presenile dementia, or in today's terms, early-onset Alzheimer's Disease (Toledo, 2006)**


 * **1906 - At the 37th South-West German Conference of Psychiatrist, Dr. Alois Alzheimer, neuropathologist and psychiatrist, discusses his findings in the case of Auguste D. This would become the first documented case to bear his name (Toledo, 2006)**


 * **1910 - In his book //Psychiatrie, Eighth Edition,// Emil Kraepelin coins the name "Alzheimer's Disease" (Toledo, 2006)**


 * **1910-1970 - Little progress is made in research for the disease of Alzheimer's. Objections (Toledo, 2006)**


 * **1976 - Role of Acetylcholine(ACH) as an important component in neurotransmission is found to be lacking in the brains of those with Alzheimer's. This discovery would allow production of current drug treatments for Alzheimer's (Winblad, 2009)**


 * **1979- Founding of Alzheimer's Association (Toledo, 2006)**


 * **1984 - The presence of the beta-amyloid protein in the plaque of the Alzheimer's brain is identified by Glenner and Wong (Winblad, 2009)**


 * **1986 - The tau protein is identified as causing the neurofibrillary tangles. Twisted collections of the tau protein were discovered in the cell bodies of neurons in Alzheimer's Disease. Tau proteins usually facillitate maintenance of microtubule structure in normal nerve cells (Winblad, 2009)**


 * **1986 Congress passes the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia Act, federal funding provides centers for in-depth evaluation of Alzheimer's patients (Toledo, 2006)**


 * **1993 - A mutation of the apolipoprotein E gene is linked to Alzheimer's. The first Alzheimer's drug, an ACH inhibitor, is [|registered] in the USA. Cognex-reversible cholinesterase inhibitor, developed by pharmaceutical company Warner-Lambert showed significant improvement in patients performance on testing with ADAS-cog, Global Assessment Scale and Mini-Mental State Exam. Frequent reports of undesireable side effects have caused the drug to no longer be prescribed (Toledo, 2006).**


 * **1996 - Aricept (Donepezil hydrochloride) approved for treatment of AD and is the number one drug prescribed. It prevents the breakdown of acetylcholine (Toledo, 2006)**


 * **2002 - A new form of drug, the NMDA receptor blocker, is registered(Winblad, 2009) **


 * **2006 - the recent discoveries and research, conducted by scientists at NYU, include, new computer software enabling analyses of EEG results to help detect early signs of Alzheimer's (Ivanhoe Broadcast News, 2006).**


 * **2008** - **New technology involving a neuro-imaging scan called PiB PET has shown to identify early stages of Alzheimer's disease in individuals much earlier than diagnostics currently used, as early as eighteen months sooner (CSIRO, 2008).**