AUTHOR=Streit Wolfgang J.

TITLE=Microglial activation and neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease: a critical examination of recent history

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

VOLUME=2

YEAR=2010

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2010.00022

DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2010.00022

ISSN=1663-4365

ABSTRACT=<p>The neurofibrillary degeneration that occurs in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is thought to be the result of a chronic and damaging neuroinflammatory response mediated by neurotoxic substances produced by activated microglial cells. This neuroinflammation hypothesis of AD pathogenesis has led to numerous clinical trials with anti-inflammatory drugs, none of which have shown clear benefits for slowing or preventing disease onset and progression. In this paper, I make the point that AD is not an inflammatory condition, and reconstruct the sequence of events during the 1980s and 1990s that I believe led to the development of this faulty theory.</p>