Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Jun 3:2:22.
doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2010.00022. eCollection 2010.

Microglial activation and neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease: a critical examination of recent history

Wolfgang J Streit  1
Affiliations

Microglial activation and neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease: a critical examination of recent history

Wolfgang J Streit. Front Aging Neurosci. .

Abstract

The neurofibrillary degeneration that occurs in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is thought to be the result of a chronic and damaging neuroinflammatory response mediated by neurotoxic substances produced by activated microglial cells. This neuroinflammation hypothesis of AD pathogenesis has led to numerous clinical trials with anti-inflammatory drugs, none of which have shown clear benefits for slowing or preventing disease onset and progression. In this paper, I make the point that AD is not an inflammatory condition, and reconstruct the sequence of events during the 1980s and 1990s that I believe led to the development of this faulty theory.

Keywords: aging; amyloid; chronic inflammation; cytokines; major histocompatibility complex antigens.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Akiyama H., Barger S., Barnum S., Bradt B., Bauer J., Cole G. M., Cooper N. R., Eikelenboom P., Emmerling M., Fiebich B. L., Finch C. E., Frautschy S., Griffin W. S., Hampel H., Hull M., Landreth G., Lue L., Mrak R., Mackenzie I. R., McGeer P. L., O'Banion M. K., Pachter J., Pasinetti G., Plata-Salaman C., Rogers J., Rydel R., Shen Y., Streit W., Strohmeyer R., Tooyoma I., Van Muiswinkel F. L., Veerhuis R., Walker D., Webster S., Wegrzyniak B., Wenk G., Wyss-Coray T. (2000). Inflammation and Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiol. Aging 21, 383–42110.1016/S0197-4580(00)00124-X - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Akiyama H., Itagaki S., McGeer P. L. (1988). Major histocompatibility complex antigen expression on rat microglia following epidural kainic acid lesions. J. Neurosci. Res. 20, 147–15710.1002/jnr.490200202 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Akiyama H., McGeer P. L. (1990). Brain microglia constitutively express beta-2 integrins. J. Neuroimmunol. 30, 81–9310.1016/0165-5728(90)90055-R - DOI - PubMed
    1. Boje K. M., Arora P. K. (1992). Microglial-produced nitric oxide and reactive nitrogen oxides mediate neuronal cell death. Brain Res. 587, 250–25610.1016/0006-8993(92)91004-X - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chao C. C., Hu S., Molitor T. W., Shaskan E. G., Peterson P. K. (1992). Activated microglia mediate neuronal cell injury via a nitric oxide mechanism. J. Immunol. 149, 2736–2741 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources