title: Neurobiology of apathy in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Apathy is considered the most frequent neuropsychiatric disturbance in dementia and its outcome is generally deleterious. Apathy can be related to a dysfunction of the anatomical-system that supports the generation of voluntary actions, namely the prefrontal cortex and/or the prefrontal-subcortical circuits. In Alzheimer's disease, pathological and neuroimaging data indicate that apathy is likely due to a dysfunction of the medial prefrontal cortex. Accordingly, in this review article, we propose a pathophysiological model to explain apathetic behavior in Alzheimer's disease, combining data from neuroimaging, neuropathology and experimental research on the role of orbito-frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, basal ganglia and dopamine in decision-making neurobiology.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
authors.forename: Henrique Cerqueira
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Guimarães
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: Antônio Lúcio
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.forename: Rogério Gomes
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Beato
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caramelli
mesh_terms: D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D000818:Animals; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000503:physiopathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D018491:Dopamine Agonists / Q000378:metabolism; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D018491:Dopamine Agonists