Alzheimer's Disease and the Eye☆

Armstrong, Richard A.

doi:10.3921/joptom.2009.103

Cited by 72 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 89 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In summary, our study supports 1) the notion that tau and ␣-synuclein may spread along neural pathways, and that 2) the clinical assessment of visual function and particularly the examination of the retina and the optic nerve, might be a promising diagnostic tool to evaluate disease progression or to stratify the patients with visual system involvement in these neurodegenerative disorders [34].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

“…Visual dysfunction is frequently observed in patients with AD suggesting involvement of the visual system during the disease course. Although tau pathology is known to be present in the primary visual cortex and more severe in the secondary visual cortex, the LGN was thought to be less susceptible for AD related pathology [33,34]. However, our study used the very sensitive method of detecting disease-associated phosphorylated tau (AT8 antibody) [3], whereas those studies were conducted at a time, where immunohistochemistry was not applied for assessing AD-related pathology.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Patterns of Tau and α-Synuclein Pathology in the Visual System

Rahimi

Milenković

Kovács

2015

Journal of Parkinson’s Disease

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract.Background: Spreading of misfolded proteins has been suggested for neurodegenerative diseases. The hierarchical distribution of protein deposits in Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) supports this concept. Objectives: To evaluate ␣-synuclein and tau-deposition in the optic pathway as an excellent anatomical model, which follows a strict trajectory including a cortico-geniculate feedback connection. Methods: We immunostained the optic nerve, lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), and occipital cortex for AT8 (phosphorylated tau), ␣-synuclein, and disease-associated prion protein (PrP) in 47 cases with tau pathology (AD type, argyrophilic grain disease, or progressive supranuclear palsy), 16 PD, and 5 Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) cases, respectively. Results: We detected immunoreactivity for all proteins along the optic pathway. The optic nerve showed immunopositivity only in cases with tau (6/8, 75%) or ␣-synuclein (5/7, 71%) pathology. The LGN was involved also frequently (tau: 22/47, 46.8%; ␣-synuclein: 15/16, 93.7%; PrP 5/5, 100%). The occipital cortex was variably affected by tau or ␣-synuclein pathology, but always showed PrP immunoreactivity in the CJD cases. Tau pathology in the LGN correlated with tau immunoreactivity in the occipital cortex and Braak stages of neurofibrillary degeneration. In tauopathies, which do not involve the occipital cortex, like argyrophilic grain disease or progressive supranuclear palsy, tau pathology was more frequently astrocytic in the LGN. Conclusions: Our results have implications 1) for the understanding of disease spreading along neural pathways and 2) for the diagnostic evaluation of the visual system in neurodegenerative proteinopathies as a potential biomarker to evaluate disease progression or subgrouping of cases.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Patterns of Tau and α-Synuclein Pathology in the Visual System

Rahimi

Milenković

Kovács

2015

Journal of Parkinson’s Disease

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A major disorder causing changes in the oculo-visual system in the older population is dementia defined as 'a major degenerative disorder with evidence of substantial cognitive decline from a previous level of performance in one or more domains such as short-term memory, abstract thinking, judgment, language, and personality changes sufficiently severe to interfere with independence.' 2 The majority of cases of dementia are due to Alzheimer's disease (AD), 3 a significant proportion of the remainder to vascular dementia (VD), 4 either alone or in combination with AD (mixed dementia), and to dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), 5 while other causes such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD), 6 dementia associated with Parkinson's disease (PDD), 7,8 Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), 9 systemic disease, or to drug use are rare. 10 FTD is a particularly complex disorder and is associated with a number of clinical conditions such as behavioural variant FTD, FTD with motor neuron disease, progressive non-fluent aphasia, semantic dementia, and progressive apraxia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oculo‐visual changes and clinical considerations affecting older patients with dementia

Armstrong

Kergoat

2015

Ophthalmic Physiologic Optic

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose Dementia is associated with various alterations of the eye and visual function. Over 60% of cases are attributable to Alzheimer's disease, a significant proportion of the remainder to vascular dementia or dementia with Lewy bodies, while frontotemporal dementia, and Parkinson's disease dementia are less common. This review describes the oculo‐visual problems of these five dementias and the pathological changes which may explain these symptoms. It further discusses clinical considerations to help the clinician care for older patients affected by dementia. Recent findings Visual problems in dementia include loss of visual acuity, defects in colour vision and visual masking tests, changes in pupillary response to mydriatics, defects in fixation and smooth and saccadic eye movements, changes in contrast sensitivity function and visual evoked potentials, and disturbance of complex visual functions such as in reading ability, visuospatial function, and the naming and identification of objects. Pathological changes have also been reported affecting the crystalline lens, retina, optic nerve, and visual cortex. Clinically, issues such as cataract surgery, correcting the refractive error, quality of life, falls, visual impairment and eye care for dementia have been addressed. Summary Many visual changes occur across dementias, are controversial, often based on limited patient numbers, and no single feature can be regarded as diagnostic of any specific dementia. Nevertheless, visual hallucinations may be more characteristic of dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson's disease dementia than Alzheimer's disease or frontotemporal dementia. Differences in saccadic eye movement dysfunction may also help to distinguish Alzheimer's disease from frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson's disease dementia from dementia with Lewy bodies. Eye care professionals need to keep informed of the growing literature in vision/dementia, be attentive to signs and symptoms suggestive of cognitive impairment, and be able to adapt their practice and clinical interventions to best serve patients with dementia.

show abstract

“…A pesar que la agudeza visual es normal en las primeras etapas de la EA (Armstrong, 2009;Valenti, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Analisis De La Percepcion De Eventos Estaticos Y Dinamicos en Personas Con Enfermedad De Alzheimer

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Uno de los aspectos afectados en la Enfermedad de Alzheimer es el lenguaje. La naturaleza y manifestaciones de estas dificultades se relacionan con la forma como los pacientes con EA perciben y comprenden el mundo que les rodea. En la presente investigación se analizaron las fijaciones visuales de siete pacientes con EA y sus controles durante tareas de percepción de escenas estáticas y dinámicas (imagen y video respectivamente). De igual forma se analizó una muestra de lenguaje producida por los pacientes al narrar el evento dinámico. Los resultados indican diferencias significativas en cuanto a la búsqueda visual, en la cual el grupo con EA presento disminución de la velocidad. En tareas de rastreo se evidencia que las personas con EA identifican menos elementos en una imagen realizando menos fijaciones, con estrategias de exploración poco eficientes. En cuanto al evento dinámico, el rastreo visual fue similar entre los dos grupos sin embargo la expresión lingüística de lo observado está afectada en el grupo con EA revelando la relación de la percepción y el lenguaje ya que a pesar de observar los eventos dentro de una escena en movimiento, estos no son recobrados posteriormente para ser expresados lingüísticamente. Estos resultados tienen importantes implicaciones tanto en la identificación de la naturaleza de las dificultades lingüísticas en la EA como en el manejo de la misma.

show abstract

Alzheimer's Disease and the Eye☆

Cited by 72 publications

References 89 publications

Patterns of Tau and α-Synuclein Pathology in the Visual System

Patterns of Tau and α-Synuclein Pathology in the Visual System

Oculo‐visual changes and clinical considerations affecting older patients with dementia

Analisis De La Percepcion De Eventos Estaticos Y Dinamicos en Personas Con Enfermedad De Alzheimer

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About