N/A, Neurodegeneration leads to Impairment, Learning and memory

Animal models of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer's disease, contributed to the elucidation of the link between amyloid protein and tau hyperphosphorylation and cognitive deficits. Bilateral injections of amyloid-b peptide in the frontal cortex of rats leads to progressive decline in memory and neurodegeneration in hippocampus (for review see Eslamizade et al., 2016). Recent findings have shown that soluble forms of Ab rather than insoluble forms (fibrils and plaques) are associated with memory impairment in early stages of Alzheimer's disease (for review see Salgado-Puga and Pena-Ortega, 2015). Several lines of evidence suggest that the small oligomeric forms of Ab and tau may act synergistically to promote synaptic dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease (for review see Guerrerro-Minoz et al., 2015). Some reports proposed the concept of imbalance between production and clearance of Ab42 and related Ab peptides, as an initiating factor inducing hyperphosphorylation of tau and leading to neuritic dystrophy and synaptic dysfunction (for review see Selkoe and Hardy, 2016). Recent trials of three different antibodies against amyloid peptides have suggested a slowing of cognitive decline in post hoc analyses of mild Alzheimer subjects (for review see Selkoe and Hardy, 2016). Therefore cognitive deficits may be related to the level and extent of classical Alzheimer pathology landmarks, but it is also influenced by neurodegeneration (for review see Braskie and Thompson, 2013). Indeed decreased hippocampal volume due to widespread neurodegeneration and visualized by neuroimaging appears to be a significant predictor of memory decline  (for review see Braskie and Thompson, 2016).

Is it known how much change in the first event is needed to impact the second? Are there known modulators of the response-response relationships? Are there models or extrapolation approaches that help describe those relationships?

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