What is it about?
In the present study, we attempted to proceed in morphological and morphometric estimation of dendritic pathology in Alzheimer's disease, correlating also the morphological alterations of the dendritic spines with the mitochondrial alterations. Dendritic pathology and decrease of dendritic spine density are prominent phenomena in early cases of Alzheimer's disease, which correlate significantly with the progressive decline of the mental faculties. In previous studies we have described the pathological alterations of the dendrites and the dendritic spines in the prefrontal area of the cortex and the cerebellum. In this study we attempted to describe the morphological alterations of the dendrites and the dendritic spines, quantifying them in the acoustic and the visual cortices of eleven cases of Alzheimer's disease, applying Golgi staining and electron microscopy. In addition, describing also the ultrastructural changes of the mitochondria in the dendritic profiles and the dendritic spines we noticed that mitochondrial pathology correlates substantially with the dystrophic dendrites, the loss of dendritic branches and the pathological alteration of the dendritic spines. We would hypothesize that mitochondrial alterations may play a very important role in dendritic degeneration and the loss of dendritic spines and we should have thought that therapeutic strategies protecting the mitochondria may be beneficial in Alzheimer's disease.
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Why is it important?
Large number of neurons in the acoustic and visual cortices in Alzheimer's brains demonstrated dendritic varicosities and distorted spine shapes. The majority of the varicosities contained abnormal polymorphous elongated mitochondria. In a substantial number of neurons in the fifth layer of the acoustic and visual cortices some axonless or unattached spines were seen protruded from the secondary dendritic branches of the apical dendrite. The spinal density, which was estimated also at the ultrastructural level, was dramatically reduced as compared with normal controls
Perspectives
Changes of the dendritic morphology and synaptic alterations associated with impressive mitochondrial alterations have also been described, on the other hand, in sublethal hypoxic glutamate activation and in insulin induced energy crisis . On the basis of the hypothesis that mitochondrial pathology may be associated with the dendritic alterations and the substantialdecrease of spine density in Alzheimer's disease, therapeutic strategies inducing protection to mitochondria might be introduced in the treatment of early cases of Alzheimer's disease.
Professor Stavros J Baloyannis or Balogiannis or Balojannis or Baloyiannis or Mpalogiannis
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
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This page is a summary of: Dendritic pathology in Alzheimer's disease, Journal of the Neurological Sciences, August 2009, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.jns.2009.02.370.
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