Neuritic plaques in Alzheimer disease originate from neurofibrillary tangles.

Amyloid beta-protein is a major focus in efforts to understand the etiology of Alzheimer disease yet there is little known about the mechanism of its deposition in plaques. I propose deposition of amyloid in neuritic plaques depends on the remains of neurofibrillary tangles after neuronal death. The interaction of these two lesions means neuritic plaques are not only dependent on neurofibrillary tangles and neuronal death but also dependent on their concurrence.