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Chapter 2 - Anatomic and Histological Changes of the Aging Brain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 November 2019

By
Anthony T. Yachnis
Edited by
Kenneth M. Heilman  and
Stephen E. Nadeau
Kenneth M. Heilman
Affiliation:
University of Florida
Stephen E. Nadeau
Affiliation:
University of Florida
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Summary

This chapter discusses the age-related microscopic changes affecting neurons and glia emphasizing the alterations seen in cognitively intact individuals, although some changes also occur in neurodegenerative diseases. Also reviewed are common histopathological correlates of white matter changes and small vessel cerebrovascular changes. One age-associated vascular lesion, brain arteriolosclerosis, was recently shown to be related to “hippocampal sclerosis of aging.” The two disease entities are now collectively called “cerebral age-related TDP43 and sclerosis.” Finally, amyloid accumulation without tau or other neuropathologies, termed “pathological aging,” is discussed with a review of current described conditions occurring during aging, e.g., “primary age-related tauopathy” and “aging-related tau astrogliopathy.”

Keywords

arteriolosclerosispathological aginghippocampal sclerosisprimary age-related tauopathy
Type
Chapter
Information
Cognitive Changes and the Aging Brain , pp. 5 - 15
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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