“Autocannibalism” of choline-containing membrane phospholipids in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease—A hypothesis |
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Authors: | Richard J Wurtman Jan K Blusztajn Jean-Claude Maire |
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Institution: | Laboratory of Neural and Endocrine Regulation, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A. |
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Abstract: | The selective vulnerability of certain cholinergic neurons in Alzheimer's disease could reflect a unique response of these neurons to a neurotoxic factor. Alternatively the etiologic factor causing the disease could affect the brain generally, and the selective death of the cholinergic neurons could occur because they have a biochemical property that makes them least able to withstand this factor. One such property might be their tendency to utilize choline-phospholipids both as a membrane constituent and as a source of free choline for acetylcholine synthesis: perhaps when choline levels in the brain's extracellular fluid are too low to sustain acetylcholine release, these neurons break down their choline-phospholipids more rapidly than they can synthesize them, thus changing membrane structure and, ultimately, neuronal viability. |
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Keywords: | To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Room E25-604 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA 02139 U S A |
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