Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis

The amyloid cascade hypothesis (ACH) is a model that attempts to explain the causative neuropathological processes underlying Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In the early 20th century, AD was recognized as a neurological condition when patients with distinct cognitive and behavioral disturbances were found to have senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in their autopsy-examined brains. Over the next 8 decades, the scientific community’s knowledge of AD grew, and in 1991, a cogent theory regarding the underlying causative neuropathological processes was proposed. The ACH has since been highly researched, and it has become the most prominent and influential theory regarding a neuropathological cause of AD.

The Development of the Hypothesis

Advances in molecular and genetic research led to the formation of the ACH. One of the first major contributory research ...

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