Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33862141›Full record

ReviewNeuroscience letters2021

Integrated phylogeny of the human brain and pathobiology of Alzheimer's disease: A unifying hypothesis.

Saak V Ovsepian, Valerie B O'Leary, Cyril Hoschl, Laszlo Zaborszky

Open access · greenAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Neuroscience letters, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 35% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Brain and retina in Alzheimer's disease: Pathological intersections and estimates from imaging.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Saak V OvsepianDepartment of Experimental Neurobiology, National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, 250 67, Klecany, Czech Republic. Electronic address: saak.ovsepian@gmail.com.
Valerie B O'LearyDepartment of Medical Genetics, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Ruská 87, 100 00, Praha 10, Czech Republic.
Cyril HoschlDepartment of Experimental Neurobiology, National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, 250 67, Klecany, Czech Republic; Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Ruská 87, 100 00, Prague 10, Czech Republic.
Laszlo ZaborszkyCenter for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, USA.
National Institute of Mental Health · CZCharles University · CZRutgers, The State University of New Jersey · US

Funding

AFFERENT REGULATION OF CHOLINERGIC FOREBRAIN NEURONSR01NS023945 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CHARLOTTESVILLE · PI ZABORSZKY, LASZLO · 1986 to 2019
$6.5M
AFFERENT REGULATION OF CHOLINERGIC FOREBRAIN NEURONSRF1NS023945 · NINDS · RUTGERS THE STATE UNIV OF NJ NEWARK · PI ZABORSZKY, LASZLO · 2020 to 2020
$2.9M
NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS023945NINDS NIH HHS RF1 NS023945
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The disproportionate evolutionary expansion of the human cerebral cortex with reinforcement of cholinergic innervations warranted a major rise in the functional and metabolic load of the conserved basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic system. Given that acetylcholine (ACh) regulates properties of the microtubule-associated protein (MAP) tau and promotes non-amyloidogenic processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP), growing neocortex predicts higher demands for ACh, while the emerging role of BF cholinergic projections in Aβ clearance infers greater exposure of source neurons and their innervation fields to amyloid pathology. The higher exposure of evolutionary most recent cortical areas to the amyloid pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with synaptic impairments and atrophy, therefore, might involve attenuated homeostatic effects of BF cholinergic projections, in addition to fall-outs of inherent processes of expanding association areas. This unifying model, thus, views amyloid pathology and loss of cholinergic cells as a quid pro quo of the allometric evolution of the human brain, which in combination with increase in life expectancy overwhelm the fine homeostatic balance and trigger the disease process.

Indexed as

PhylogenyAlzheimer DiseaseAnimalsCerebral CortexCholinergic NeuronsDefault Mode NetworkHumansNerve Tissue ProteinsReceptors, Nerve Growth FactorNerve Tissue ProteinsNGFR protein, humanReceptors, Nerve Growth FactorAlzheimer’s diseaseAmyloid depositionBrain evolutionCholinergic neuronsCortical expansionDefault mode networksp75 NTR

Identifiers

PMID33862141
PMCPMC9020516
OpenAlexW3154989265

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.