Dysfunctional Sensory Modalities, Locus Coeruleus, and Basal Forebrain: Early Determinants that Promote Neuropathogenesis of Cognitive and Memory Decline and Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder. It is essential to unravel its etiology and pathogenesis. This should enable us to study the presymptomatic stages of the disease and to analyze and reverse the antemortem behavioral, memory, and cognitive dysfunction. Prima facie, an ongoing chronic vulnerability involving neural insult may lead normal elderly to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and then to AD. Development of effective preventive and therapeutic strategies to thwart the disease pathology obviously requires a thorough delineation of underlying disruptive neuropathological processes. Our sensory capacity for touch, smell, taste, hearing, and vision declines with advancing age. Declines in different sensory attributes are considered here to be the primary "first-tier pathologies." Olfactory loss is among the first clinical signs of neurodegenerative diseases including AD and Parkinson's disease (PD). Sensory dysfunction in the aged promotes pathological disturbances in the locus coeruleus, basal forebrain, entorhinal cortex, hippocampus, and several key areas of neocortex and brainstem. Hence, sensory dysfunction is the pivotal factor that may upregulate cognitive and memory dysfunction. The age-related constellation of comorbid pathological factors may include apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, alcohol abuse, head trauma, and obstructive sleep apnea. The concepts and trajectories delineated here are the dynamic pillars of the current hypothesis presented—it postulates that the sensory decline, in conjunction with the above pathologies, is crucial in triggering neurodegeneration and promoting cognitive/memory dysfunction in aging and AD. The application of this thesis can be important in formulating new multifactorial preventive and treatment strategies (suggested here) in order to attenuate cognitive and memory decline and ameliorate pathological dysfunction in aging, MCI, and AD.

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