This book provides an up-to-date accounting of the information available concerning the etiology, pathogenesis, clinical characteristics, and neurochemical abnormalities of Alzheimer's disease, as well as of new basic-science discoveries that could lead to effective therapies for this disease. Chapters by 37 internationally-known neuroscientists and clinical investigators provide both a general picture of our evolving understanding of the disease, and specific details of its manifestations. Readers will be especially interested in descriptions of the genetic lesions of Alzheimer's disease, and of the properties of phospholipid membranes that may underlie the special vulnerability of cholinergic neurons in the disease. The book is a "first edition," and is, to our knowledge, unique in its presentation of the most recent research findings in an integrated way.