0000000000352170
AUTHOR
R. A. I. De Vos
Neurofibrillary tangles and neuropil threads as a cause of dementia in Parkinson’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are the most common age-related degenerative disorders of the human brain. Both diseases involve multiple neuronal systems and are the consequences of cytoskeletal abnormalities. In AD susceptible neurons produce neurofibrillary changes, while in Parkinson’s disease, they develop Lewy bodies. In AD six developmental stages can be distinguished on account of the predictable manner in which the neurofibrillary changes spread across the cerebral cortex. During the course of PD numerous limbic determined parts of the brain undergo specific lesions regulating endocrine and autonomic functions. In general, the extranigral destructions are in t…
Amygdala pathology in Parkinson's disease.
The amygdala undergoes severe pathological changes during the course of Parkinson's disease (PD). Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites are distributed in a specific manner throughout the nuclear complex. The lesional pattern displays only minor interindividual variation. The most prominent changes occur in the accessory cortical and central nuclei. The cortical, accessory basal and granular nuclei show less severe alterations, while the basal and lateral nuclei, as well as the intercalated cell masses, generally remain uninvolved. The amygdala receives a broad range of afferents, allowing integration of exteroceptive information with interoceptive data. It generates major projections to the isocor…
Pattern of brain destruction in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases
Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are the most common age-related degenerative disorders of the human brain. Both diseases involve multiple neuronal systems and are the consequences of cytoskeletal abnormalities which gradually develop in only a small number of neuronal types. In AD, susceptible neurons produce neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and neuropil threads (NTs), while in PD, they develop Lewy bodies (LBs) and Lewy neurites (LNs). The specific lesional pattern of both illnesses accrues slowly over time and remains remarkably consistent across cases. In AD, six developmental stages can be distinguished on account of the predictable manner in which the neurofibrillar…
Expression of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits in the cerebral cortex in Alzheimer's disease: histotopographical correlation with amyloid plaques and hyperphosphorylated-tau protein
Impairment of cholinergic transmission and decreased numbers of nicotinic binding sites are well-known features accompanying the cognitive dysfunction seen in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In order to elucidate the underlying cause of this cholinoceptive dysfunction, the expression of two pharmacologically different nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits (alpha4, alpha7) was studied in the cerebral cortex of Alzheimer patients as compared to controls. Patch-clamp recordings of 14 dissociated neurons of control cortices showed responses suggesting the existence of alpha4- and alpha7-containing functional nAChRs in the human cortex. In cortices of Alzheimer patients and controls, the p…