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. 2018 Nov 16;12:851. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00851

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Copyright © 2018 Pretorius, Kell and Pretorius.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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Schematic representation of The Iron Dysregulation and Dormant Microbes hypothesis. With reference to the scheme it is plausible that systemic inflammation caused by stress induced iron dysregulation and subsequent microbial reactivation can lead to increased permeability of the blood brain barrier as well as a neuro-inflammatory environment which promotes neuronal cell death. The red arrows indicate factors which could contribute to synaptic loss and neuronal death. Dashed arrows have not been discussed in detail in this review but are recognized as contributors to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s-type dementias. Adapted from Kell and Pretorius (2018). Abbreviations: Aβ, amyloid beta; NO, nitric oxide; BBB, blood brain barrier; RBC, red blood cell; OH^-, hydroxyl; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; LTA, lipoteichoic acid; HO-1, heme oxygenase-1 and NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.