Citation

Lai MK, Chen CP, Hope T, Esiri MM. Neuroreport 2010; 21(17): 1111-1115.

Affiliation

Memory, Aging and Cognition Centre, National University Health System Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge, Singapore Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital dDepartment of Neuropathology, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/WNR.0b013e3283407204

PMID

20890229

Abstract

Neuropsychiatric behaviors occur frequently in Alzheimer's disease and other dementias and are thought to arise from the neurodegenerative process. However, it is unclear whether neurodegenerative changes in the hippocampus are associated with neuropsychiatric behaviors such as aggression. In this study, semiquantitative measurements of cell loss, atrophy, neuritic plaque and neurofibrillary tangle load in the postmortem hippocampus were taken for dementia patients, prospectively assessed for neuropsychiatric behaviours. It was found that increased tangle load, but not other hippocampal neuropathological variables, was associated with increased severity of aggressive behaviours and presence of chronic aggression. This study suggests a pathogenic link between neurofibrillary tangle load and aggressive behaviors in the hippocampus of dementia patients.

Language: en