Dendritic Spine Pathology in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Substantial progress has been made toward understanding the neuropathology, genetic origins, and epidemiology of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease; tauopathies, such as frontotemporal dementia; alpha-synucleinopathies, such as Parkinson's disease or dementia with Lewy bodies; Huntington's disease; and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with dementia, as well as prion diseases. Recent evidence has implicated dendritic spine dysfunction as an important substrate of the pathogenesis of dementia in these disorders. Dendritic spines are specialized structures, extending from the neuronal processes, on which excitatory synaptic contacts are formed, and the loss of dendritic spines correlates with the loss of synaptic function. We review the literature that has implicated direct or indirect structural alterations at dendritic spines in the pathogenesis of major neurodegenerative diseases, focusing on those that lead to dementias such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases, as well as frontotemporal dementia and prion diseases. We stress the importance of in vivo studies in animal models.