Affiliations: [a] CNR Center on Metalloproteins, Department of Biology, University of Padova, Italy | [b] Division of Anatomopathology, General Hospital, Dolo, Venice, Italy | [c] Sant'Antonio Hospital, Padova, Italy | [d] Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Bologna, Italy
Correspondence:
[*]
CNR Center on Metalloproteins, Metals and the Brain Laboratory, Dept. of Biology, University of Padova, Viale G. Colombo 3, 35121 Padova, Italy. Tel.: +39 49 827 6331; Fax: +39 49 827 6330; E-mail: zatta@cribi1.bio.unipd.it
Abstract: Cholesterol is considered a risk factor in vascular dementia as well as in Alzheimer's disease. Several biochemical, epidemiological and genetic aspects established a correlation between cholesterol concentration and Alzheimer's disease. Microglia activation, astrocytosis with metallothionein-I-II overexpression, amyloid β intraneuronal accumulation and a rare formation of amyloid β extracellular positive deposits were the major immunohistochemical features observed in the brain of high cholesterol-fed animals. The relevance on the cholesterol metabolism in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis is also discussed.
