Von Economo Neurons in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia with Underlying Alzheimer’s Disease

Article type: Short Communication

Authors: Tan, Rachel H.^{a; b; *} | Yang, Yue^a | McCann, Heather^b | Shepherd, Claire^b | Halliday, Glenda M.^{a; b}

Affiliations: [a] The University of Sydney, Brain and Mind Centre and Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Australia | [b] School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, and Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Dr. Rachel H. Tan, Brain and Mind Centre, 94 Mallett Street, Camperdown NSW 2050 Australia. Tel.: +61293510791; E-mail: rachel.tan1@sydney.edu.au.

Abstract: The selective loss of von Economo neurons has been linked to the behavioral deficits in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) but whether these neurons are affected in bvFTD patients with underlying Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has yet to be established. The present study assesses the von Economo neurons in pathological AD cases clinically diagnosed with either AD or bvFTD. Our results demonstrate no significant loss of von Economo neurons in all pathological AD cases, irrespective of clinical diagnosis or co-existing Lewy body pathology. These results suggest that the behavioral deficits in patients with clinical bvFTD and underlying pathological AD are not driven by the loss of von Economo neurons.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, Lewy body pathology, Von Economo neurons

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-180900

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 69, no. 4, pp. 963-967, 2019