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Neuropathology of the Aging Brain and Dementia of the Alzheimer Type

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Aging 2000: Our Health Care Destiny

Abstract

The two most prominent histopathological changes found in high numbers in the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain are the neurofibrillary tangle and the neuritic and amyloid plaque. Each of these lesions is characterized by an accumulation of proteinaceous fibrous profiles (the paired helical filaments) and amyloid fibers, respectively. These structures are not only distinguishable from each other but from all of the normal cellular filaments as well. Both lesions are also found, in low numbers, in the brains of aged, but otherwise clinically normal, individuals. This quantitative difference between age-associated pathology and the AD brain implies that the cause(s) responsible for the lesions may be fundamentally the same and differ only in degree.

The association of plaques with scrapie and other slow, unconventional virus infections supports the hypothesis of an infectious etiology for Alzheimer’s disease.

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Authors
  1. Henryk M. Wisniewski
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  2. George S. Merz
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Texas Research Institute of Mental Sciences, Texas Medical Center, 77030, Houston, Texas, USA

    Charles M. Gaitz M.D. (Head, Gerontolgy Center Assistant Director) & T. Samorajski Ph.D. (Chief, Neurobiology Section) (Head, Gerontolgy Center Assistant Director) &  (Chief, Neurobiology Section)

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© 1985 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Wisniewski, H.M., Merz, G.S. (1985). Neuropathology of the Aging Brain and Dementia of the Alzheimer Type. In: Gaitz, C.M., Samorajski, T. (eds) Aging 2000: Our Health Care Destiny. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5058-6_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5058-6_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9544-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-5058-6

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