NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS CURRICULUM SUPPORT
Human Biology
Case Study on
Alzheimer’s Disease
Teacher’s Notes
[HIGHER]
The Scottish Qualifications Authority regularly reviews
the arrangements for National Qualifications. Users of
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reminded that it is their responsibility to check that the
support materials correspond to the requirements of the
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Acknowledgement
Learning and Teaching Scotland gratefully acknowledges this contribution to the National
Qualifications support programme for Human Biology.
The publisher gratefully acknowledges permission to use the following sources: image of
Morris water maze test from www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/departments/?locator=622&context=872 ©
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; 2 diagrams from p. 2860 of Visual Deprivation
Alters the Development of Cortical Multisensory Integration by William Vaughan, Barry E.
Stein and Mark T. Wallace, Brian N. Carriere, David W. Royal, Thomas J. Perrault, Stephen P.
Morrison, J., J Neurophysiology 98:2858-2867, 2007. First published 29 August 2007;
doi:10.1152/jn.00587.2007
http://jn.physiology.org/content/98/5/2858.full.pdf+html © Visual Deprivation Alters the
Development of Cortical Multisensory Integration by William Vaughan, Barry E. Stein and
Mark T. Wallace, Brian N. Carriere, David W. Royal, Thomas J. Perrault, Stephen P.
Morrison, J.2007, Am Physiol Soc, used with permission
Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright holders but if any have been inadvertently
overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first
opportunity.
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2011
This resource may be reproduced in whole or in part for educational purposes by educational
establishments in Scotland provided that no profit accrues at any stage.
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ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CASE STUDY (H, HUMAN BIOLOGY)
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2011
Contents
Activity 1: Alzheimer’s disease
4
Activity 2: An introduction to research in behavioural neuroscience
6
Activity 3: Memory-enhancing drugs
8
Activity 4: The effects of sensory deprivation on brain development
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CASE STUDY (H, HUMAN BIOLOGY)
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2011
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3
TEACHER’S NOTES
Teacher’s notes
Activity 1: Alzheimer’s disease
Access to YouTube required. The first video, ‘What is Alzheimer’s disease?’
should be shown first as it is easier. The second video, ‘Inside the Brain:
Unravelling the Mystery of Alzheimer's Disease [HQ]’ has more detail on the
causes of the disease and is the focus for the following questions. The second
video was made by major accredited organisations in the USA.
Students may need to watch the videos more than once . Alternatively, the
video can be stopped at the appropriate points to give students time to answer
the questions.
Answers to questions
1.
Beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles .
2.
Beta-secretase and gamma-secretase.
3.
The fragments clump together and become toxic, i nterfering with
neuron function, and eventually form beta-amyloid plaques.
4.
When the tau protein is modified it separates from microtubules
(critical for the cell’s internal transport system) in the neuron, causing
them to fall apart. The tau protein then forms tangles in the neuron,
disabling the transport system of nutrients and destroying the cell.
5.
Unable to form new memories, confusion, aggression, long -term
memory loss, mood swings, inability to speak properly. The disease
requires considerable management and is currently incurable. Social,
economic, psychological and physical pressures mean it can be tough on
relatives of Alzheimer’s patients.
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ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CASE STUDY (H, HUMAN BIOLOGY)
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2011
TEACHER’S NOTES
6.
Students are encouraged to do their own research into current
treatments. An accurate summary can be found on the Alzheimer’s
Wikipedia page. Potential treatment approaches include reduction of
beta-amyloid levels, drugs such as methylthioninium chloride , which
inhibits tau aggregation, antiviral medication.
Questions 5 and 6 could be set as homework if there is not enough time in
class.
Approximate duration of activity: 90 minutes.
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CASE STUDY (H, HUMAN BIOLOGY)
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2011
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TEACHER’S NOTES
Activity 2: An introduction to research in behavioural
neuroscience
This activity introduces the Morris water maze , a paradigm that was invented
in Scotland and is now used all over the world.
Answers to questions
1.
In video 1 the rat takes longer to find the platform than the rat in video
2. This is because video 1 shows the first trial (so the rat has never been
in the water maze before) and the second video shows the eighth trial –
by then the rat has learned and remembered where the hidden platform
is.
2.
By using the time taken to find the platform.
3.
(a)
(b)
See table below.
Accept.
Trial
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Rat
Rat
Rat
Rat
Rat
Rat
Rat
Rat
90
85
86
102
96
108
94
107
68
65
70
85
81
80
72
75
44
48
46
51
52
48
47
56
32
35
48
56
57
71
45
36
25
30
21
24
27
26
27
22
21
19
21
20
20
23
18
21
22
18
15
23
26
14
12
11
8
24
21
25
18
14
13
10
12
15
20
11
15
18
10
5
11
5
9
14
8
7
10
16
12
10
5
9
14
6
12
8
96
74.5
49
47.5
25.3
20.4
17.6
16.6
13.3
10
9.5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Mean
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ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CASE STUDY (H, HUMAN BIOLOGY)
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2011
TEACHER’S NOTES
4.
There are many applications for the Morris water maze. There are
several options here and this task is designed to get students to think
about applications of this experimental equipment and design
experiments of their own. Some example hypotheses are:
1.
The longer the memory interval (or time between learning and
testing), the longer it will take for rats to find the platform.
2.
Rats with a lesion in the hippocampus (the area in the brain
responsible for learning and memory) will not be able to
remember the way to the platform.
3.
Treatment with a drug that blocks N-Methyl-D-aspartate
(NMDA) receptors will impair learning.
4.
Age affects learning.
Approximate duration of activity: 60 minutes.
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CASE STUDY (H, HUMAN BIOLOGY)
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2011
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TEACHER’S NOTES
Activity 3: Memory-enhancing drugs
Answers to questions
1.
To create the graph above students can use Microsoft Excel (scatterplot
graph) or draw their own.
2.
Positive control.
3.
Negative control.
4.
As methylphenidate dosage increases dopamine levels increase in a
dose-dependent manner.
5.
Initial burst of dopamine levels, then a peak, then the graph tails off
over time as the drug is used up.
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ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CASE STUDY (H, HUMAN BIOLOGY)
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2011
TEACHER’S NOTES
A research paper and an article have been provided for further reading . Both
are freely available for download via:
Google scholar: http://scholar.google.co.uk/schhp?hl=en&tab=ws
or
PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed
Approximate duration of activity: 90 minutes.
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CASE STUDY (H, HUMAN BIOLOGY)
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2011
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TEACHER’S NOTES
Activity 4: The effects of sensory deprivation on brain
development
Answers to questions
1.
The somatosensory system is a diverse sensory system comprising the
receptors and processing centres to produce the sensory modalities such
as touch, temperature, proprioception and nociception (pain). (Students
should be encouraged to look this up themselves .)
2.
List 1:
Unisensory neurons
visual
auditory
somatosensory
List 2:
Multisensory neurons
auditorysomatosensory (AS)
visual-auditory (VA)
visual-auditory-somatosensory (VAS)
visual-somatosensory (VS)
3.
Visual
Auditory
Somatosensory
AS
VA
VAS
VS
Total:
Visual system
Normal DR
17
12
13
>1
3
18
1
3
33
33
Auditory system
Normal DR
29
39
4
13
>1
5
18
1
46
63
Somatosensory
Normal
DR
23
4
13
5
>1
3
1
3
30
22
4.
Sensory deprived animals show a higher percentage of auditory
responsive neurons and a lower percentage of somatosensory neurons
than normally reared animals.
5.
These results illustrate the importance of sensory experience
(specifically visual experience) for the development of mature
multisensory cortical circuits. Dark-rearing had a significant effect on
the development of the modality representations. M ore unisensory
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ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CASE STUDY (H, HUMAN BIOLOGY)
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2011
TEACHER’S NOTES
neurons are tuned to the auditory system in DR cats to compensate for
the loss of sight.
Approximate duration of activity: 60 minutes.
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CASE STUDY (H, HUMAN BIOLOGY)
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2011
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