Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 29, Issue 8 , Pages 1133-1136 , August 2008

Neurofibrillary changes of the Alzheimer type in very elderly individuals: Neither inevitable nor benign: Commentary on “No disease in the brain of a 115-year-old woman”

Received 24 April 2008 ,Accepted 24 April 2008.

References 

  1. Arendt T, Brückner MK, Gertz HJ, Marcova L. Cortical distribution of neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer's disease matches the pattern of neurons that retain their capacity of plastic remodelling in the adult brain. Neuroscience. 1998;83:991–1002
  2. Arriagada PV, Growdon HH, Hedley-Whyte ET, Hyman BT. Neurofibrillary tangles but not senile plaques parallel duration and severity of Alzheimer disease. Neurology. 1992;42:631–639
  3. Braak H, Braak E. Neuropathological stageing of Alzheimer-related changes. Acta Neuropathol. 1991;82:239–259
  4. Braak H, Braak E. Staging of Alzheimer's disease-related neurofibrillary changes. Neurobiol. Aging. 1995;16:271–278
  5. Braak H, Braak E. Development of Alzheimer-related neurofibrillary changes in the neocortex inversely recapitulates cortical myelogenesis. Acta Neuropathol. 1996;92:197–201
  6. Braak H, Braak E. Frequency of stages of Alzheimer-related lesions in different age categories. Neurobiol. Aging. 1997;18:351–357
  7. Braak H, Del Tredici K. Staging of cortical neurofibrillary inclusions of the Alzheimer type. In:  Jucker M,  Beyreuther K,  Haass C,  Nitsch R,  Christen Y editor. Alzheimer: 100 Years and Beyond. Berlin & Heidelberg: Springer; 2006;p. 96–106
  8. Braak H, Del Tredici K, Braak E. Spectrum of pathology. In:  Petersen RC editors. Mild Cognitive Impairment. Aging to Alzheimer's disease. New York: Oxford University Press; 2003;p. 149–189
  9. Braak H, Alafuzoff I, Arzberger T, Kretzschmar H, Del Tredici K. Staging of Alzheimer disease-associated neurofibrillary pathology using paraffin sections and immunocytochemistry. Acta Neuropathol. 2006;112:389–404
  10. Callahan LM, Selski DJ, Martzen MR, Cheetham JE, Coleman PD. Preliminary evidence: decreased GAP-43 message in tangle-bearing neurons relative to adjacent tangle-free neurons in Alzheimer's disease parahippocampal gyrus. Neurobiol. Aging. 1994;15:381–386
  11. Coleman P, Federoff H, Kurlan R. A focus on the synapse for neuroprotection in Alzheimer disease and other dementias. Neurology. 2004;63:1155–1162
  12. Coles LS. Validated worldwide supercentenarians, living and recently deceased. Rejuvenation Res. 2008;11:269–272
  13. Davis DG, Schmitt FA, Wekstein DR, Markesbery WR. Alzheimer neuropathologic alterations in aged cognitively normal subjects. J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. 1999;58:376–388
  14. Finch CE. The biology of aging in model organisms. Alz. Dis. Assoc. Disord. 2003;17(Suppl. 2):S39–S41
  15. Finch CE. Developmental origins of aging in brain and blood vessels: an overview. Neurobiol. Aging. 2005;26:281–291
  16. Finch CE, Sapolsky RM. The evolution of Alzheimer's disease, the reproductive schedule, and apoE isoforms. Neurobiol. Aging. 1999;20:407–428
  17. Giannakopoulos P, Herrmann FR, Bussiere T, Bouras C, Kovari E, Perl DP, et al. Tangle and neuron numbers, but not amyloid load, predict cognitive status in Alzheimer's disease. Neurology. 2003;60:1495–1500
  18. Gold G, Bouras C, Kövari E, Canuto A, Glaría BG, Malky A, et al. Clinical validity of Braak neuropathological staging in the oldest-old. Acta Neuropathol. 2000;99:579–582
  19. Gómez-Isla T, Hyman BT. Neuropathological changes in normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer's disease. In:  Petersen RC editors. Mild Cognitive Impairment. Aging to Alzheimer's disease. New York: Oxford University Press; 2003;p. 191–204
  20. Green MS, Kaye JA, Ball MJ. The Oregon brain aging study: neuropathology accompanying healthy aging in the oldest old. Neurology. 2000;54:105–113
  21. Grober E, Dickson D, Sliwinski MJ, Buschke H, Katz M, Crystal H, et al. Memory and mental status correlates of modified Braak staging. Neurobiol. Aging. 1999;20:573–579
  22. Hyman BT, Gómez-Isla T. Alzheimer's disease is a laminar, regional, and neural system specific disease, not a global brain disease. Neurobiol. Aging. 1994;15:353–354
  23. Hyman BT, Trojanowski JQ. Editorial on consensus recommendations for the postmortem diagnosis of Alzheimer disease from the National Institute on Aging and the Reagan Institute working group on diagnostic criteria for the neuropathological assessment of Alzheimer disease. J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. 1997;56:1095–1097
  24. Jellinger K. Clinical validity of Braak staging in the oldest-old. Acta Neuropathol. 2000;99:583–584
  25. Jicha GA, Parisi JE, Dickson DW, Boeve BF, Knopman DS, Petersen RC, et al. Lewy pathology in centenarian case series. Neurology. 2005;6(Suppl. 1):A275
  26. Knopman DS, Parisi JE, Salviati A, Floriach-Robert M, Boeve BF, Ivnik RJ, et al. Neuropathology of cognitively normal elderly. J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. 2003;62:1087–1095
  27. Miller JA, Oldham MC, Geschwind DH. A systems level analysis of transcriptional changes in Alzheimer's disease and normal aging. J. Neurosci. 2008;28:1410–1420
  28. Moceri VM, Kukull WA, Emanuel I, van Belle G, Larson EB. Early-life risk factors and the development of Alzheimer's disease. Neurology. 2000;54:415–420
  29. Morris JC. Mild cognitive impairment is early-stage Alzheimer disease: time to revise diagnostic criteria. Arch Neurol. 2006;63:15–16
  30. Morsch R, Simon W, Coleman PD. Neurons may live for decades with neurofibrillary tangles. J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. 1999;58:188–197
  31. Mizutani T, Shimada H. Neuropathological background of twenty seven centenarian brains. J. Neurol. Sci. 1992;108:168–177
  32. Petersen RC. Conceptual overview. In:  Petersen RC editors. Mild Cognitive Impairment. Aging to Alzheimer's Disease. New York: Oxford University Press; 2003;p. 1–14
  33. Petersen RC, Doody R, Kurz A, Mohs RC, Morris JC, Rabins PV, et al. Current concepts in mild cognitive impairment. Arch. Neurol. 2001;58:1985–1992
  34. Powell AL. Senile dementia of extreme aging: a common disorder of centenarians. Dementia. 1994;5:106–109
  35. Rapoport SI. Brain evolution and Alzheimer's disease. Rev. Neurol (Paris). 1988;144:79–90
  36. Rapoport SI. Integrated phylogeny of the primate brain, with special reference to humans and their diseases. Brain Res. Rev. 1990;15:267–294
  37. Reisberg B, Franssen EH, Hasan SM, Monteiro I, Boksay I, Souren LEM, et al. Retrogenesis: clinical, physiologic, and pathologic mechanisms in brain aging. Alzheimer's and other dementing processes. Eur. Arch. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 2003;249(Suppl. 3):28–36
  38. Riley KP, Snowdon DA, Markesbery WR. Alzheimer's neurofibrillary pathology and the spectrum of cognitive function: findings from the Nun Study. Ann. Neurol. 2002;51:567–577
  39. Ritchie K. Mental status examination of an exceptional case of longevity J.C. aged 118 Years. Br. J. Psychiatry. 1995;166:229–235
  40. Robine JM, Allard M. The oldest human. Science. 1998;279:1834–1835
  41. Swerdlow RH. Is aging part of Alzheimer's disease, or is Alzheimer's disease part of aging?. Neurobiol. Aging. 2006;1465–1480
  42. Thal DR, Del Tredici K, Braak H. Neurodegeneration in normal brain aging and disease. Sci. Aging Knowledge Environ. 2004;23:1–13

PII: S0197-4580(08)00143-7

doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2008.04.016

Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 29, Issue 8 , Pages 1133-1136 , August 2008

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution