Senile dementia is a pressing medical and social problem for modern societies.
Till now, there is no cure for dementia. Senile dementia is actually a group of several different diseases. The common ones are Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, Parkinson's disease, and Lewy body disease. In Alzheimer's disease, the commonest form, the brain atrophies and abnormal proteins, called amyloid, accumlate in the brain substance, in the form of senile plaques. In addition, abnormal filaments appear in the brain cells, the neurons, and they are called neurofibrillary tangles.