Amyloidosis and Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most frequent type of amyloidosis in humans and the commonest form of dementia. Extracellular Abeta amyloid deposits in the form of amyloid plaques and cerebral amyloid angiopathy as well as intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles co-exist in the brain parenchyma of AD patients, the cognitive areas being the most severely affected. This review focuses on the potential role of amyloid in the development of neurodegeneration and presents studies of AD and other unrelated inherited dementia syndromes associated with neuronal loss and amyloid deposition in the brain. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.