Failed Compensatory Dendritic Growth as a Pathophysiological Process in Alzheimer's Disease

In normal human aging the remaining neurons of two areas of the hippocampal region have been found to compensate for age-related neuronal loss by proliferating new dendrites. In Alzheimer's disease (AD) the layer II pyramidal neurons of the parahippocampal gyrus fail to show this compensatory response, in spite of a probable, exaggerated disease-related loss of neurons. In AD the dentate gyrus granule cells of the hippocampus also show a reduced amount of the compensatory response. This failure of the AD brain to show the normal compensatory plastic response, seen in normal aging as dendritic growth, may be viewed as one of the pathophysiological processes of the disease.

[1]  T. Arendt,et al.  Neuronal loss in different parts of the nucleus basalis is related to neuritic plaque formation in cortical target areas in alzheimer's disease , 1985, Neuroscience.

[2]  M. Diamond,et al.  A Golgi study of the superficial pyramidal cells in the somatosensory cortex of socially reared old adult rats , 1982, Experimental Neurology.

[3]  H BRODY,et al.  Organization of the cerebral cortex. III. A study of aging in the human cerebral cortex , 1955, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[4]  R. Pentney.  Quantitative analysis of dendritic networks of Purkinje neurons during aging , 1986, Neurobiology of Aging.

[5]  J. Hinds,et al.  Aging in the rat olfactory system: Correlation of changes in the olfactory epithelium and olfactory bulb , 1981, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[6]  E. Uemura.  Age-related changes in the subiculum of Macaca mulatta: Dendritic branching pattern , 1985, Experimental Neurology.

[7]  H. Loos.  Une combinaison de deux vieilles méthodes histologiques pour le système nerveux central , 1956 .

[8]  A. Hirano,et al.  Alzheimer's neurofibrillary changes. A topographic study. , 1962, Archives of neurology.

[9]  A. M. Dam,et al.  THE DENSITY OF NEURONS IN THE HUMAN HIPPOCAMPUS , 1979 .

[10]  D. Mann,et al.  Some morphometric observations on the cerebral cortex and hippocampus in presenile Alzheimer's disease, senile dementia of Alzheimer type and Down's syndrome in middle age , 1985, Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

[11]  Floyd E. Bloom,et al.  Senescent microstructural changes in rat cerebellum , 1984, Brain Research.

[12]  J W Hinds,et al.  Aging of the rat olfactory bulb: Growth and atrophy of constituent layers and changes in size and number of mitral cells , 1977, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[13]  D. Mann,et al.  Changes in nerve cells of the nucleus basalis of Meynert in Alzheimer's disease and their relationship to ageing and to the accumulation of lipofuscin pigment , 1984, Mechanisms of Ageing and Development.

[14]  J. Coyle,et al.  Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia: loss of neurons in the basal forebrain. , 1982, Science.

[15]  P. Coleman,et al.  Dendritic growth in the aged human brain and failure of growth in senile dementia. , 1979, Science.

[16]  E. Uemura,et al.  Age-related changes in prefrontal cortex of Macaca mulatta: Quantitative analysis of dendritic branching patterns , 1980, Experimental Neurology.

[17]  W. Slidders,et al.  The effect of advanced old age on the neurone content of the cerebral cortex Observations with an automatic image analyser point counting method , 1983, Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

[18]  M. Diamond,et al.  Occipital cortical morphology of the rat: Alterations with age and environment , 1980, Experimental Neurology.

[19]  Paul D. Coleman,et al.  Age-related dendritic growth in dentate gyrus of human brain is followed by regression in the ‘oldest old’ , 1985, Brain Research.

[20]  F. Tagliavini,et al.  Basal nucleus of meynert A neuropathological study in Alzheimer's disease, simple senile dementia, Pick's disease and Huntington's chorea , 1983, Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

[21]  Deepak N. Pandya,et al.  Some connections of the entorhinal (area 28) and perirhinal (area 35) cortices of the rhesus monkey. III. Efferent connections , 1975, Brain Research.

[22]  Paul D. Coleman,et al.  Quantitative evidence for selective dendritic growth in normal human aging but not in senile dementia , 1981, Brain Research.

[23]  D. Bodian.  A new method for staining nerve fibers and nerve endings in mounted paraffin sections , 1936 .

[24]  J. Schadé,et al.  Changes during growth in the volume and surface area of cortical neurons in the rabbit. , 1960, Experimental neurology.

[25]  Bernard E. Tomlinson,et al.  Cell counts in human cerebral cortex in normal adults throughout life using an image analysing computer , 1980, Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

[26]  P. Mcgeer,et al.  Aging, Alzheimer's disease, and the cholinergic system of the basal forebrain , 1984, Neurology.

[27]  Arnold B. Scheibel,et al.  Quantitative analysis of dendritic branching pattern of granular cells from human dentate gyrus , 1976, Experimental Neurology.

[28]  P. Coleman,et al.  Dendritic extent in human dentate gyrus granule cells in normal aging and senile dementia , 1987, Brain Research.

[29]  G. V. Van Hoesen,et al.  Alzheimer's disease: cell-specific pathology isolates the hippocampal formation. , 1984, Science.

[30]  C. Cotman,et al.  Plasticity of hippocampal circuitry in Alzheimer's disease. , 1985, Science.

[31]  E. Perry,et al.  Pathological changes in the nucleus of meynert in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases , 1983, Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

[32]  P. Coleman,et al.  Dendritic proliferation in the aging brain as a compensatory repair mechanism. , 1986, Progress in brain research.

[33]  M. Esiri,et al.  THE NUCLEUS BASALIS IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE: CELL COUNTS AND CORTICAL BIOCHEMISTRY , 1983, Neuropathology and applied neurobiology.