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Published on: April 11, 2018
Neurobiology of apathy in Alzheimer's disease
Henrique Cerqueira Guimarães1, Richard Levy, Antônio Lúcio Teixeira
1Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Abstract:
Apathy is considered the most frequent neuropsychiatric disturbance in dementia and its outcome is generally deleterious. Apathy can be related to a dysfunction of the anatomical-system that supports the generation of voluntary actions, namely the prefrontal cortex and/or the prefrontal-subcortical circuits. In Alzheimer's disease, pathological and neuroimaging data indicate that apathy is likely due to a dysfunction of the medial prefrontal cortex. Accordingly, in this review article, we propose a pathophysiological model to explain apathetic behavior in Alzheimer's disease, combining data from neuroimaging, neuropathology and experimental research on the role of orbito-frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, basal ganglia and dopamine in decision-making neurobiology.
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