Zeitschrift für Alzheimer-Krankheit und Parkinsonismus

Abstrakt

Neuronal Impulse Theory and Alzheimer's Disease

Helmut Barz, Ulrich Barz and Almut Schreiber

The paper gives a link to a mechanical hypothesis of the functioning and functionality of the brain. Mechanic impulses and pressure waves occur at the neuronal cell bodies and the neuronal fibers and conduct information. The requirement for these physiological aspects is a certain hydrostatic pressure in the neurons and an elasticity of the neuronal membranes. The alteration of the neuronal fiber walls due to the hydrostatic pressure in the neurons may be comparable with changes at the walls of arteries due to the blood pressure. In the older ages fiber breaks may occur with an escape of cytoplasm into the extracellular compartment and otherwise agglomerisation of the resting cytoplasm in the involved neuronal cell bodies. These two pathophysiological mechanisms may be important factors for the development of plaques and tangles.