title: Common factors among Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and epilepsy: possible role of the noradrenergic nervous system.
abstract: The neurodegenerative disorders Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) share in common the neuropathologic loss of locus coeruleus (LC) noradrenergic neurons. In addition, these two neurodegenerative disorders share two symptoms that define these disorders: cognitive impairment and depression. The hippocampus is a region that is known to play a role in cognition and depression, and the hippocampus receives sole noradrenergic innervation from LC neurons. However, it is unclear how the loss of LC noradrenergic neurons contributes to these common symptoms in these two disorders. Epilepsy is not considered a neurodegenerative disorder, but the hippocampus is severely affected in temporal lobe epilepsy. Of interest, cognitive impairment and depression are also common comorbid disorders in temporal lobe epilepsy. This article describes common symptoms among these three neurologic disorders and a possible role of the noradrenergic nervous system.
authors.affiliation: Northwest Network for Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Veterans Administration Puget Sound Health Care System, 1660 S Columbian Way,Seattle, WA 98108, U.S.A szot@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Szot
mesh_terms: D059331:Adrenergic Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000473:pathology*; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008125:Locus Coeruleus / Q000473:pathology; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000473:pathology*; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000502:physiology*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D009638:Norepinephrine