Dendritic Spines: Mediators of Cognitive Resilience in Aging and Alzheimer's Disease.

ABSTRACT: Cognitive resilience is often defined as the ability to remain cognitively normal in the face of insults to the brain. These insults can include disease pathology, such as plaques and tangles associated with Alzheimer's disease, stroke, traumatic brain injury, or other lesions. Factors such as physical or mental activity and genetics may contribute to cognitive resilience, but the neurobiological underpinnings remain ill-defined. Emerging evidence suggests that dendritic spine structural plasticity is one plausible mechanism. In this review, we highlight the basic structure and function of dendritic spines and discuss how spine density and morphology change in aging and Alzheimer's disease. We note evidence that spine plasticity mediates resilience to stress, and we tackle dendritic spines

SUBMITTER: Walker CK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8130863 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature