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Commentary: is Alzheimer's disease uniquely human?
Caleb E Finch1, Steven N Austad2
1Davis School of Gerontology and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Neurobiology of Aging
|December 24, 2014
Summary
Alzheimer's disease (AD) may be unique to humans. While great apes accumulate amyloid beta (Aβ) deposits, they lack key AD brain pathologies like dystrophic neurites and typical neurofibrillary tangles.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Primatology
- Pathology
Background:
- Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder.
- The hypothesis that AD is a human-specific disease was proposed in 1989.
- Great apes and humans share the same amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide sequence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the presence and characteristics of Alzheimer's disease-like pathology in aging great apes.
- To assess the validity of the hypothesis that Alzheimer's disease is a human-specific condition.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of brain pathology in aging great apes and humans.
- Examination of amyloid beta (Aβ) deposits, neuritic changes, and neurofibrillary tangles in ape brains.
- Consideration of factors influencing lifespan and potential for pathology development in captive apes.
Main Results:
- Great apes accumulate significant amyloid beta (Aβ) deposits with age, similar to humans.
- Despite Aβ accumulation, ape brains show a lack of dystrophic neurites near plaques.
- Neurofibrillary tangles are infrequent in aging ape brains, with one exception in an obese chimpanzee with atypical distribution.
Conclusions:
- Aging great apes exhibit some features of AD pathology (Aβ deposits) but lack key indicators like dystrophic neurites.
- The development of fully expressed AD-like pathology in great apes remains uncertain.
- The findings cautiously support the hypothesis that Alzheimer's disease may be a human-specific disease.
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