Premium
Physical basis of cognitive alterations in alzheimer's disease: Synapse loss is the major correlate of cognitive impairment
Author(s) -
Terry Robert D.,
Masliah Eliezer,
Salmon David P.,
Butters Nelson,
DeTeresa Richard,
Hill Robert,
Hansen Lawrence A.,
Katzman Robert
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.410300410
Subject(s) - dementia , neuropsychology , alzheimer's disease , multivariate statistics , psychology , neuroscience , neurochemical , cognition , clinical dementia rating , multivariate analysis , synapse , audiology , cognitive impairment , disease , pathology , medicine , statistics , mathematics
We present here both linear regressions and multivariate analyses correlating three global neuropsychological tests with a number of structural and neurochemical measurements performed on a prospective series of 15 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 9 neuropathologically normal subjects. The statistical data show only weak correlations between psychometric indices and plaques and tangles, but the density of neocortical synapses measured by a new immunocytochemical/densitometric technique reveals very powerful correlations with all three psychological assays. Multivariate analysis by stepwise regression produced a model including midfrontal and inferior parietal synapse density, plus inferior parietal plaque counts with a correlation coefficient of 0.96 for Mattis's Dementia Rating Scale. Plaque density contributed only 26% of that strength.