. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Feb 5.

Published in final edited form as: Neuromolecular Med. 2005;7(1-2):3–36. doi: 10.1385/nmm:7:1-2:003

Table 3.

Characteristics of Neurodegenerative Disorders

Disorder	Neurons affected	Major symptoms
Alzheimer's disease	Entorhinal cortex, hippocampal pyramidal, basal forebrain cholinergic, amygdala, temporal and frontal lobes. brainstem monoaminergic	Cognitive impairment, emortional disturbances (depression, agitation), disturbed circadian rythyms
Parkinson's disease	Substantia nigra dopaminergic, cerebral cortical	Motor dysfunction, emotional disturbances, cognitive impairment
Huntington's disease	Striatal medium spiny neurons (GABAergic/ motor dysfunction, emotional enkephalinergic), cerebral cortical	Disturbances, cognitive impairment
Stroke	Depends on vessel affected: may involve cortical, basal ganglia, brainstem or cerebellum	Sensory and/or motor deficits, cognitive impairment, motor dysfuntion
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis	Spinal cord and brainstem lower motor neurons, cerebral cortical upper motor neurons	Progressive paralysis
Spinocerebellar ataxia	Cerebellar Purkinje cells	Impaired motor control