The right temperature at the right time: A framework for understanding thermoregulatory pathophysiology in Alzheimer's disease.

Authors

Esther Blessing

Published in

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. Volume 22. Issue 10. Pages e71847.

Abstract

The neuromodulatory subcortical system (NSS) includes thermoregulatory neurons that maintain core body temperature (Tb) and brain temperature within a narrow, diurnally varying range. Cellular pathways in NSS neurons implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) may be vulnerable to Tb rhythm disturbance because of their sensitivity to temperature and their thermoregulatory function. This review evaluates a framework for pathophysiological interactions between thermoregulation and AD anchored in the functional anatomy of thermoregulatory neurons. Findings in humans show that thermoregulatory neurons exhibit tau pathology in early AD, and abnormal Tb rhythm is seen in advanced AD. In rodents, cellular risk pathways for tau aggregation are both modulated by diurnal range temperature change and involved in thermoregulation. Further research is needed to bridge human and rodent findings, to understand how sex differences in Tb impact AD risk, and to identify modifiable causal links between Tb disturbance and pathophysiology toward improving clinical outcomes in early AD.

PMID:
42885145
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 16 Oct 2026.

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