Fibrillar amyloid-beta affects neurofibrillary changes but only in neurons already involved in neurofibrillary degeneration.

Publication Type	Academic Article
Authors	Wegiel J, Bobinski M, Tarnawski M, Dziewiatkowski J, Popovitch E, Miller D, Wisniewski T, Golomb J, de Leon M, Reisberg B
Journal	Acta Neuropathol
Volume	101
Issue	6
Pagination	585-90
Date Published	06/01/2001
ISSN	0001-6322
Keywords	Amyloid beta-Peptides, Nerve Degeneration, Neurofibrillary Tangles, Neurons
Abstract	The aim of this study of the cerebral cortex of 8 non-demented elderly subjects and of 17 subjects in the severe stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD) (Global Deterioration Scale stage 7/Functional Assessment Staging procedure stage 7a-f) was to examine the relationships between amyloid-beta (Abeta) deposits and neurofibrillary degeneration. The study shows that neuronal processes with neurofibrillary changes are detectable in only a minority of fibrillar plaques: from 31% to 49% of fibrillar plaques within frontal, temporal, parietal, limbic, occipital, and insular cortices. The correlations observed between the numerical densities of neurons with neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and the densities of Thioflavin-S-positive fibrillar plaques with neurofibrillary changes (r=0.61; P<0.01) indicate that neurofibrillary pathology in neocortical plaques reflects the topography and rate of neurofibrillary changes in neocortical neurons. The accumulation of abnormally phosphorylated tau in only some plaques indicates that fibrillar Abeta enhances paired helical filament accumulation locally only in dystrophic neurites already involved in neurofibrillary degeneration. The lack of correlation between the number of neurons with neurofibrillary changes and the number of all Thioflavin-S-positive fibrillar plaques (with and without neurofibrillary changes) suggests that beta-amyloidosis does not contribute to initiation of neurofibrillary degeneration in neurons.
DOI	10.1007/s004010000334
PubMed ID	11515787