A 73-year-old man is brought to the physician by his daughter for evaluation of increasing forgetfulness during the past 6 months. The daughter reports that he recently got lost while walking home from the grocery store. The patient has also been more irritable but has had no movement or gait abnormalities, feelings of depression, hallucinations, or delusions. On mental status examination, he has a normal affect. He is oriented to person and place but cannot recall which month it is. There are no focal neurologic deficits. Which of the following is most likely involved in the pathogenesis of this patient's condition?

Question

A 73-year-old man is brought to the physician by his daughter for evaluation of increasing forgetfulness during the past 6 months. The daughter reports that he recently got lost while walking home from the grocery store. The patient has also been more irritable but has had no movement or gait abnormalities, feelings of depression, hallucinations, or delusions. On mental status examination, he has a normal affect. He is oriented to person and place but cannot recall which month it is. There are no focal neurologic deficits.  Which of the following is most likely involved in the pathogenesis of this patient's condition?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Eductional Objective: Neuropathologic features of Alzheimer disease include neurodegeneration, amyloid plaques (ie, extracellular accumulations of beta amyloid), and neurofibrillary tangles.  Neurofibrillary tangles are formed when tau, a protein associated with neuronal microtubules, becomes hyperphosphorylated and disassociates from the microtubules to form paired helical filaments.

A 73-Year-Old Man Is Brought to the Physician by His