How Does Alzheimer's disease - plaques, tangles, causes, symptoms & pathology Work?

Alzheimer’s disease is when your brain starts to forget things because some parts of it get clogged and twisted up.

Imagine your brain is like a busy city with lots of roads. Plaques are like big traffic jams made from bits of broken-up cars (which are pieces of brain cells). These traffic jams happen in the spaces between brain cells, making it hard for messages to travel properly.

Tangles, on the other hand, are like twisted-up strings inside the brain cells themselves. They form when a protein called tau gets all knotted up, like when you tie your shoelaces too tightly and they get stuck together.

The causes of Alzheimer’s are not exactly known, but it happens over many years, kind of like how your favorite toy might wear out after playing with it every day for a long time. Some people may be more likely to get it because their family had it before.

Symptoms start with small things like forgetting names or getting lost in familiar places. Over time, it gets harder to remember new things and do everyday tasks, like tying your shoes or remembering where you put your socks.

The pathology of Alzheimer’s means the brain is changing physically: plaques build up outside brain cells, tangles twist them inside, and eventually, parts of the brain start to shrink. It's like a city that slowly loses its roads and buildings, everything becomes harder to find.