Neuronal death versus synaptic pathology in Alzheimer's disease.

Neuron and synapse numeric densities as well as the average size and surface density of the synaptic junctional areas were measured in the hippocampus and cerebellum of adult, old, and demented (Alzheimer's disease) patients. Our findings support the notion that synaptic loss represents per se a prominent and early damage affecting zones of the central nervous system reported to show a different vulnerability to age- and pathology-related changes.