Dick Swaab and Ahmad Salehi
Slide 9
In concluding I hope that I have convinced you that the picture is not that simple as the
amyloid cascade hypothesis. That activity or rather neuronal inactivity is a key factor in
Alzheimer's disease. In my opinion it also is the only explanation of how in the early stages of
Alzheimer's disease the symptoms can change from day to day and from hour to hour when we
observe patients. It's remarkable how rapidly these symptoms can change. So this cannot be based
on sliver stained anatomical changes. It should be an activity-related phenomena at least in the
early stages. I tried to indicate that high affinity neurotrophin receptors may be a key factor
in the early changes and that reactivation might be possible if you only know the right stimulus
for a neuronal system.
A scheme summarizing the current data. Note that only decreased neuronal
activity does not lead to irreversible dementia. (from Salehi, 1996,
thesis).
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