LAUSR

Neuropathologists have been aware of neurofibrillary tangles for more than a century following their description as part of Alois Alzheimer's initial report. Since those early days, our understanding of the relationship of this particular type of cellular inclusion associated with neurodegeneration has continually broadened. Textbooks, now a partially antiquated concept, commonly list a range of disorders as being associated with tangles -NDASH- including typical neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer disease [AD], forms of frontotemporal lobar degenerations [FTLD-tau], progressive supranuclear palsy [PSP], corticobasal degeneration [CBD], primary aged related tauopathy [PART]), secondary degenerative diseases such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, metabolic disease (Niemann-Pick disease type C) and infections (SSPE). Because such a wide range of disorders include tangles as a component of the neuropathologic findings, it appears that a range of cellular injury can result in the initiation of the pathologic processes which manifest as a tangle. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.