Personal Injury Law

Link Between Traumatic Brain Injury and Alzheimer's Disease

By Bruce Stern

In the May 2010 issue of 'Nature's Review/Neuroscience' Victoria E. Johnson and Douglas H. Smith of the Penn Center for Brain Injury and Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine with William Stewart of the Department of Neuropathology, Southern General Hospital, University of Glasgow, discuss the association between traumatic brain injury and the development of Alzheimer's disease later in life.  The authors 'explore the mechanistic underpinnings of the link between TBI and Alzheimer's disease focusing on the hypothesis that rapid Ab plaque formation may result from the accumulation of amyloid precursor protein in damaged axons and the disturbed balance between Ab genesis and catabolism following TBI.

While the authors acknowledge that the link between trauma the later development of neuro degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's is extremely complex and work in the field remains in its infancy.

Full post as published by Traumatic Brain Injury Law Blog on April 08, 2010 (boomark / email).