REVIEW

Cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s disease

R Vandenberghe^1,3, J Tournoy^2,4

¹ Neurology Department, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium
² Geriatrics Department, University Hospital Gasthuisberg
³ Laboratorium Hersenen en Cognitie, Afdeling Experimentele Neurologie, KU Leuven
⁴ Centre for Human Genetics, Neuronal Cell Biology Laboratory, KU Leuven and Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, KU Leuven

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor R Vandenberghe
Neurology Department, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; rik.vandenberghe{at}uz.kuleuven.ac.be

Cognitive aging and clinically probable Alzheimer’s disease can be discriminated by means of clinical and neuropsychological testing, and structural and functional imaging techniques. Research at the level of cognitive brain systems and at the molecular level provides exciting new insights into the relation between aging and neurodegeneration. The advances at the clinical and at the basic research levels are necessary if we wish to meet the formidable challenge that the increasing prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease poses to the medical community.

Abbreviations: AD, Alzheimer’s disease; MCI, mild cognitive impairment; MMSE, mini-mental state examination; IADL, instrumental activities of daily living; PET, positron emission tomography; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; CT, computed tomography; LTP, long term potentiation; CREB, cAMP response element binding protein; PKA, protein kinase A; APP, amyloid precursor protein; KPI, kunitz protease inhibitor; AVF, animal verbal fluency

Keywords: cognitive aging; Alzheimer’s disease

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