1. A Scoping Review of Alzheimers Disease Hypotheses: An Array of Uni- and Multi-Factorial Theories.
- Author
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Duchesne S, Rousseau LS, Belzile-Marsolais F, Welch LA, Cournoyer B, Arseneau M, Lapierre V, Poulin SM, Potvin O, and Hudon C
- Subjects
- Humans, Brain pathology, Alzheimer Disease etiology, Alzheimer Disease pathology
- Abstract
Background: There is a common agreement that Alzheimers disease (AD) is inherently complex; otherwise, a general disagreement remains on its etiological underpinning, with numerous alternative hypotheses having been proposed., Objective: To perform a scoping review of original manuscripts describing hypotheses and theories of AD published in the past decades., Results: We reviewed 131 original manuscripts that fulfilled our inclusion criteria out of more than 13,807 references extracted from open databases. Each entry was characterized as having a single or multifactorial focus and assigned to one of 15 theoretical groupings. Impact was tracked using open citation tools., Results: Three stages can be discerned in terms of hypotheses generation, with three quarter of studies proposing a hypothesis characterized as being single-focus. The most important theoretical groupings were the Amyloid group, followed by Metabolism and Mitochondrial dysfunction, then Infections and Cerebrovascular. Lately, evidence towards Genetics and especially Gut/Brain interactions came to the fore., Conclusions: When viewed together, these multi-faceted reports reinforce the notion that AD affects multiple sub-cellular, cellular, anatomical, and physiological systems at the same time but at varying degree between individuals. The challenge of providing a comprehensive view of all systems and their interactions remains, alongside ways to manage this inherent complexity.
- Published
- 2024
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