Question

The brain disease caused due to accumulation of amyloid $\beta$-peptide is
A. Addison’s disease
B. Huntington’s disease
C. Parkinson’s disease
D. Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 1

Brain diseases are mostly neurodegenerative and cause the brain to deteriorate over time. They can change a person’s personality and cause irritability and confusion. People are more prone to these diseases in their old age.

Complete answer:
- Addison’s disease: Degradation of the adrenal cortex due to diseases like tuberculosis results in this disorder where adrenal glands are not able to produce enough hormones for the proper functioning of the body. Both glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids are deficient in this disease. Symptoms include bronze-like pigmentation of the skin, low blood sugar, extreme fatigue, low plasma $N{a^ + }$, high plasma ${K^ + }$, increased urinary $N{a^ + }$, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
- Huntington’s disease: It is a neurodegenerative, rare, inherited disease that causes the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. It has a severe impact on a person’s functional abilities. It causes movement, cognitive and psychiatric disorders with a broad range of symptoms like difficulty in learning new information, lack of awareness, difficulty in speech or swallowing, dystonia, abnormal eye movement, feeling of irritability, insomnia, etc. It follows an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern.
- Parkinson’s disease: It is a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movements, causing stiffness or slowing of movements. Symptoms may include tremor or shaking, bradykinesia (slowed movement), muscle stiffness or rigid muscles, impaired posture and balance, loss of automatic nervous movements, speech changes, etc.
- Alzheimer’s disease: It is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder and is the main cause of dementia in 60-70% of cases. The cause can be attributed to mutations in the gene encoding for amyloid precursor protein (APP). It is characterized by the deposition of beta-amyloid plaques and intraneural tau-containing neurofibrillary tangles in the brain.

Therefore, the answer is (D) Alzheimer’s disease

Note:
- A diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s disease is the Peanut butter test.
- Huntington’s disease is named after George Huntington.
- Alzheimer’s disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer.