Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology

This comprehensive review by Lax and colleagues focuses on the neurological manifestations of mitochondrial diseases and the contribution of neuropathological studies to understanding the pathogenesis of these diseases. Investigating disease mechanisms is essential for developing novel treatments to improve care and quality of life for patients with these devastating diseases.

This beautifully illustrated study Nolano and colleagues explores the involvement of sensory and autonomic systems in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) demonstrating cutaneous sensory and autonomic denervation and a novel relationship between autonomic and vascular involvement with a relationship to rapid disease progression.

Altered sub-cellular localisation of TDP-43 in monocytes may represent a new diagnostic tool and investigation of monocytes may improve our understanding of disease mechanisms in ALS.

Sports-related chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is of increasing concern. Detailed quantitative analysis of elements of CTE tau pathology adds to the understanding of this disease and morphological features permit parallels with other entities, possibly shedding light on disease mechanisms.

Changes in component of the extracellular matrix occur early in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and correlate with amyloid β deposition. The study indicates that brain microvascular dysfunction may be important in early disease and contributes to the drive to find early disease biomarkers and therapeutic targets for AD.