Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and dementia

The pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease is far from clear since it is still undetermined whether and how extracellular beta-protein and cytoskeletal d egeneration of neurons, which are colocalised in the association neocortex of Alzheimer patients, are related to one another. By using beta-protein an d other derivatives of the precursor protein, efforts to cause cell lesions comparable to neurofibrillary degeneration have been fruitless. However, t he view that the amyloid issued from the polymerisation of beta-protein is neurotoxic, remains the most attractive. To fully explore this hypothesis, attention should be paid to neurons that participate in neocortical circuit s and to factors that may influence their vulnerability, whether selective or not, to beta-protein and associated proteins.