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O4‐09‐05: OLFACTORY NEURODEGENERATIVE PATHOLOGY IN NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE
Author(s) -
Attems Johannes,
Walker Lauren,
Jellinger Kurt A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2014.04.437
Subject(s) - dementia with lewy bodies , dementia , lewy body , pathology , medicine , synucleinopathies , disease , parkinson's disease , alpha synuclein , neurofibrillary tangle , amyloid (mycology) , biomarker , alzheimer's disease , senile plaques , biology , biochemistry
Background: Olfactory dysfunction is a common and early symptom of many neurodegenerative diseases, particularly of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other synucleinopathies. In mild cognitive impairment (MCI) olfactory dysfunction heralds the progression to dementia. Recent studies of olfactory dysfunction suggest its potential as an early biomarker for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders and their disease progression. Methods: Our study cohort consisted of 536 post mortem brains (mean age: 81.3years, SE60.46; 57% male). According to neuropathologically confirmed diagnoses 33.6% had AD, 8.7% LBD (i.e. Parkinson’s disease with/ without dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies), 5.4% vascular dementia (VaD) and 9.8% other neurodegenerative diseases (controls: 42.3%). Sections of the OB were stained with antibodies against a-synuclein, tau and amyloid-b. The severity of the respective pathologies was assessed semiquantitatively.Results: In the OB tau, amyloid-b and a-synuclein correlated with neurofibrillary tangle Braak stages, Thal phases and Lewy body Braak stages, respectively. Mean scores were significantly higher in demented cases compared to controls (P<0.01). OB tau/ amyloid-b was seen in 98.3%/ 51.7% of AD and OB a-synuclein was present in 95.2% of LBD. 85.7%/ 23.8% of LBD cases had OB tau/amyloid-b while only 34.4% of AD cases showed OB a-synuclein pathology. Conclusions: Our data show that OB neurodegenerative pathology is frequent in neurodegenerative diseases and accurately reflects the prevalence and severity of associated neurodegenerative pathology in the brain. The high prevalence of OB tau in LBD cases warrants further studies to clarify if olfactory dysfunction in LBD patients may be a biomarker for both cerebral a-synuclein and tau pathology. Moreover, since clinically demented patients frequently show multiple neuropathological lesions in the brain, OB biopsies might be helpful for targeted drug trials to stratify patients according to both the prevalence and the severity of their respective pathologies.