The origin and development of plaques and phosphorylated tau are associated with axonopathy in Alzheimer’s disease

作     者：肖爱武 何敬 王茜 罗艺 孙燕 周艳平 官阳 Paul J.Lucassen 戴甲培 

作者机构：中南民族大学武汉神经科学和神经工程研究所武汉430074 阿姆斯特丹大学生命科学研究所神经科学研究中心 华中科技大学同济医学院病理学系超微病理研究室武汉430030 

出 版 物：《Neuroscience Bulletin》 (神经科学通报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2011年第27卷第5期

页      面：287-299页

核心收录：

学科分类：1002[医学-临床医学] 100203[医学-老年医学] 10[医学] 

基　　金：supported by an"Excellent Project"of the China Ministry of Human Resources for Return Overseas Chinese Scholarship partly by the Research Foundation for"Key Laboratory of Neu-roscience and Neuroengineering"of South-Central University for Nationalities(No.XJS09001) the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31070961) 

主　　题：Alzheimer’s disease axonopathy senile plaques neurofibrillary tangles postmortem tracing 

摘      要：Objective The production of neurotoxic β-amyloid and the formation of hyperphosphorylated tau are thought to be critical steps contributing to the neuropathological mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease （AD）. However, there remains an argument as to their importance in the onset of *** studies have shown that axonopathy is considered as an early stage of AD. However, the exact relationship between axonopathy and the origin and development of classic neuropathological changes such as senile plaques （SPs） and neurofibrillary tangles （NFTs） is unclear. The present study aimed to investigate this relationship. Methods Postmortem tracing, combined with the immunohistochemical or immunofluo-rescence staining, was used to detect axonopathy and the formation of SPs and NFTs. Results ＂Axonal leakage＂–a novel type of axonopathy, was usually accompanied with the extensive swollen axons and varicosities, and was associated with the origin and development of Aβ plaques and hyperphosphorylated tau in the brains of AD patients. Conclusion Axonopathy, particularly axonal leakage, might be a key event in the initiation of the neuropathological processes in AD.