Abstract
Frontotemporal dementia was first described by Arnold Pick in 18921. In 1911, Alois Alzheimer described the neuropathological lesions characteristic of Pick’s disease2. In the 1960’s, these so-called Pick bodies were shown to contain abnormal filaments3which are now known to be made of hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau4,5. They resemble the neurofibrillary lesions described by Alzheimer in 1907 in the disease subsequently named after him6,7. Filamentous inclusions made of tau protein are also a defining characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases, such as progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD).
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Spillantini, M.G., Goedert, M. (2001). Tau Gene Mutations and Tau Pathology in Frontotemporal Dementia and Parkinsonism Linked to Chromosome 17. In: Tolnay, M., Probst, A. (eds) Neuropathology and Genetics of Dementia. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 487. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1249-3_3
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