[The role of actin in Alzheimer's disease]

Alzheimer's disease is associated with the formation of extracellular senile plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles. In the neurons of patients, all the morphological features of apoptosis, e.g. blebbing, formation of apoptotic bodies, and chromatin condensation, as well as cytoskeleton reorganization were observed. Actin filaments interact with proteins characteristic of Alzheimer's disease, such as apolipoprotein E, amyloid precursor protein, pressenilin, and tau protein. The degeneration of neurons is associated with the formation of Hirano bodies, which contain actin, cofilin, tubulin, tau protein, and proteins of the MAP family and APP. Actin rods are also observed in postmortal brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. These 'rods' have been shown to play a role in Hirano body precursors.