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Clinicopathological correlations in a large Alzheimer's Disease Center autopsy cohort: utility of plaque and tangle counts and application to specific topics.
Author(s) -
Nelson Peter T.,
Markesbery William R.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.167.7
Subject(s) - neuropathology , precuneus , tangle , neurofibrillary tangle , medicine , pathological , alzheimer's disease , disease , pathology , pathogenesis , autopsy , cohort , neuroscience , psychology , psychiatry , senile plaques , cognition , mathematics , pure mathematics
Research subjects who underwent longitudinal clinical evaluation and postmortem quantitative neuropathological assessment at the University of Kentucky Alzheimer's Disease (AD) Center were studied to address topics related to AD pathogenesis and therapies. Patients without superimposed brain diseases showed strong correlations between AD‐type pathology counts in isocortex and premortem Mini‐Mental State Examination scores. A theoretical model is proposed in which our results are interpreted to support the “amyloid cascade hypothesis” of AD pathogenesis. With this dataset we also addressed two issues of current interest to the AD research field: 1. Imaging studies (PET for metabolism and amyloid ligands, as well as structural MRI studies) have shown that the precuneus in the parietal lobe is among the first areas affected by AD, however, there have not been prior rigorous studies of the evolution of precuneus neuropathology in AD; 2. The effect of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors on human brains has been a matter of debate, and there has not been extensive analyses of differences in the clinical and pathological progression of the disease among persons who have or have not received the medications.