Of dolphins, humans, other long-lived animals and Alzheimer’s disease
(Commentary on Vacher et al.)
Abstract
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a familial or sporadic severe
neurodegenerative disorder that leads to short-term memory impairment
followed by progressive cognitive deterioration of executive functions.
AD frequency is increasing with a consequent socio-economic burden and
there is an urgent need to understand its aetiological complexity, find
reliable animal models and identify effective therapeutic treatments. AD
diagnosis relies on a series of neuropsychiatric criteria and the
detection of two pathognomonic protein aggregates in the brain
parenchyma: amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. The concurrence
of these aggregates seems to be mostly present in humans. In this issue,
Vacher and colleagues demonstrate the notable coexistence of AP
deposition and hyperphosphorylated tau in the brains of dolphins. Here
we discuss the relevance of this finding and how they could help
understanding AD