A 72-year-old woman with progressive memory loss for three years is brought by her family. She cannot recall her grandchildren's names, gets lost in her own neighbourhood, and has difficulty with word-finding. MMSE score is 16/30. MRI shows bilateral hippocampal and entorhinal cortex atrophy. Her condition is most strongly associated with accumulation of which pathological protein?
- A Alpha-synuclein Lewy bodies
- B TDP-43 inclusions
- C Amyloid-beta plaques and hyperphosphorylated tau neurofibrillary tangles ✓
- D Prion protein (PrPsc) aggregates
Correct answer: C. Amyloid-beta plaques and hyperphosphorylated tau neurofibrillary tangles
Explanation
Alzheimer's disease is pathologically characterised by the extracellular deposition of amyloid-beta in senile plaques and intracellular accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau protein in neurofibrillary tangles, beginning in the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus and spreading to association cortices. Alpha-synuclein Lewy bodies are the hallmark of Parkinson's disease dementia and Lewy body dementia. TDP-43 inclusions characterise frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Prion aggregates define Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Reference: Kaplan & Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry, 11th ed.
High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP
Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.