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Journal ArticleDOI

Life and Death of Neurons in the Aging Brain

John H. Morrison, +1 more
- 17 Oct 1997 - 
- Vol. 278, Iss: 5337, pp 412-419
TLDR
The qualitative and quantitative differences between aging and Alzheimer's disease with respect to neuron loss are discussed, and age-related changes in functional and biochemical attributes of hippocampal circuits that might mediate functional decline in the absence of neuron death are explored.
Abstract
Neurodegenerative disorders are characterized by extensive neuron death that leads to functional decline, but the neurobiological correlates of functional decline in normal aging are less well defined. For decades, it has been a commonly held notion that widespread neuron death in the neocortex and hippocampus is an inevitable concomitant of brain aging, but recent quantitative studies suggest that neuron death is restricted in normal aging and unlikely to account for age-related impairment of neocortical and hippocampal functions. In this article, the qualitative and quantitative differences between aging and Alzheimer's disease with respect to neuron loss are discussed, and age-related changes in functional and biochemical attributes of hippocampal circuits that might mediate functional decline in the absence of neuron death are explored. When these data are viewed comprehensively, it appears that the primary neurobiological substrates for functional impairment in aging differ in important ways from those in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

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Citations
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Low plasma epinephrine in elderly female subjects of dementia of Alzheimer type.

TL;DR: Statistical analysis showed that the plasma level of epinephrine during a fasting state in DAT subjects was significantly lower than that of ND subjects; however, in VD subjects the level ofEpinephrine was not different from that ofND subjects, and other values did not differ significantly among the groups.
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Neurocognition of aging in working environments

TL;DR: In this paper, the PFIFF project presented as an example for transfer of neuroscientific basic research to an applied context that aimed at ameliorating and evaluating age-and job-related cognitive deficits.
Journal ArticleDOI

Enriched Environment and White Matter in Aging Brain

TL;DR: This review approached the issue that EE might contribute to normal aging and be beneficial for those suffering from demyelinated diseases by demonstrating that EE recovered spatial memory impairment and increased white matter volume by promoting marked remyelination in aged brain.
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Postnatal-related changes in the size and total number of neurons in the caudal mesenteric ganglion of dogs: Total number of neurons can be predicted from body weight and ganglion volume

TL;DR: It was possible to predict the total number of neurons in CMG using both body weight and ganglion volume in an attempt to verify whether or not size and total numberof neurons are both allometrically and aging ruled, i.e., if either the animal's body weight or ganglions volume or aging influence these parameters.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Neuropathological stageing of Alzheimer-related changes.

Heiko Braak, +1 more
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A synaptic model of memory: long-term potentiation in the hippocampus

TL;DR: The best understood form of long-term potentiation is induced by the activation of the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor complex, which allows electrical events at the postsynaptic membrane to be transduced into chemical signals which, in turn, are thought to activate both pre- and post Synaptic mechanisms to generate a persistent increase in synaptic strength.
Journal ArticleDOI

Long-lasting potentiation of synaptic transmission in the dentate area of the anaesthetized rabbit following stimulation of the perforant path.

TL;DR: The after‐effects of repetitive stimulation of the perforant path fibres to the dentate area of the hippocampal formation have been examined with extracellular micro‐electrodes in rabbits anaesthetized with urethane.
Journal ArticleDOI

A new clinical scale for the staging of dementia.

TL;DR: The Clinical Dementia Rating (CRD) was developed for a prospective study of mild senile dementia—Alzheimer type (SDAT), and was found to distinguish unambiguously among older subjects with a wide range of cognitive function.
Journal ArticleDOI

The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD): Part II. Standardization of the neuropathologic assessment of Alzheimer's disease

TL;DR: The Neuropathology Task Force of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) has developed a practical and standardized neuropathology protocol for the postmortem assessment of dementia and control subjects, which provides neuropathologic definitions of such terms as “definite Alzheimer's disease” (AD), “probable AD,” “possible AD” and “normal brain” to indicate levels of diagnostic certainty.
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