2-Minute Neuroscience: Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) @neurochallenged

Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

Frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, is a term used to describe a collection of related brain disorders that involve the neurodegeneration of the frontal and temporal lobes. In this video, I discuss the symptoms and subtypes of FTD as well as the pathological brain mechanisms underlying FTD.

🧠 Take your learning further with my free, self-paced Introduction to Neuroscience course featuring my videos, articles, and hundreds of quiz questions: neuroscientificallychallenged.com/course

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📚Your Brain, Explained: What Neuroscience Reveals About Your Brain and its Quirks: amazon.com/Your-Brain-Explained-Neuroscience-Reveals/dp/1473696569

📚Bizarre: The Most Peculiar Cases of Human Behavior and What They Tell Us About How the Brain Works: amazon.com/Bizarre-Peculiar-Cases-Human-Behavior/dp/139980121X

TRANSCRIPT:
Frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, is a term used to describe a collection of related brain disorders that involve the neurodegeneration of the frontal and temporal lobes. The neurodegeneration in FTD is associated with a variety of symptoms, and different presentations of symptoms have been used to establish multiple subtypes of FTD. The three main subtypes are: behavioral variant FTD, semantic variant primary progressive aphasia, and nonfluent variant primary progressive aphasia. In behavioral variant FTD, patients display a variety of changes in behavior, emotions, personality, and executive control. For example, they may exhibit compulsive behavior, apathy, and/or socially inappropriate behavior. In primary progressive aphasias, the main impairment is with language. Patients who have the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia display deficits in word comprehension as well as trouble recalling certain words, along with other language difficulties. Patients who have the non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia have difficulty producing fluent speech, which might involve trouble speaking at all or problems with the use of grammar to produce understandable speech.

FTD is associated with a pathological process called frontotemporal lobar degeneration, which involves the death of neurons and other pathological changes in the frontal and temporal lobes, as well as other areas of the brain such as the anterior cingulate cortex and insular cortex. In FTD, the degeneration of neurons is associated with the accumulation of structurally abnormal proteins, which might contribute to cell death through multiple mechanisms. The protein accumulation and associated damage spreads, causing the symptoms of FTD to get progressively worse over time. While initially a patient may display symptoms linked to just one of the FTD subtypes, the spreading neurodegeneration may eventually lead to the manifestation of symptoms from multiple subtypes. Unfortunately at this point there are no drugs approved to treat FTD, so treatment primarily involves managing symptoms.

REFERENCES:

Bang J, Spina S, Miller BL. Frontotemporal dementia. Lancet. 2015 Oct 24;386(10004):1672-82. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00461-4. PMID: 26595641; PMCID: PMC5970949.

Olney NT, Spina S, Miller BL. Frontotemporal Dementia. Neurol Clin. 2017 May;35(2):339-374. doi: 10.1016/j.ncl.2017.01.008. PMID: 28410663; PMCID: PMC5472209.

Young JJ, Lavakumar M, Tampi D, Balachandran S, Tampi RR. Frontotemporal dementia: latest evidence and clinical implications. Ther Adv Psychopharmacol. 2018

2-Minute Neuroscience: Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)

$2-Minute Neuroscience: LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, is a potent psychoactive substance that is commonly classified as a hallucinogen or psychedelic drug. In this video, I discuss our understanding of LSDs effects on the brain. 🧠 Take your learning further with my free, self-paced Introduction to Neuroscience course featuring my videos, articles, and hundreds of quiz questions: https://neuroscientificallychallenged.com/course If youre looking for accessible and entertaining ways to learn more about the brain, check out my books: 📚Your Brain, Explained: What Neuroscience Reveals About Your Brain and its Quirks: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Explained-Neuroscience-Reveals/dp/1473696569/ 📚Bizarre: The Most Peculiar Cases of Human Behavior and What They Tell Us About How the Brain Works: https://www.amazon.com/Bizarre-Peculiar-Cases-Human-Behavior/dp/139980121X/ TRANSCRIPT: Lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, is a potent psychoactive substance that is commonly classified as a hallucinogen or psychedelic drug. The effects of LSD vary substantially depending on the dose, the mood of the individual taking the drug, and the environment the drug is taken in. Some common effects include mental and physical stimulation, perceptual distortions, and generally positive mood states. Although we have some understanding of LSD’s activity in the brain, it is not fully understood how this activity leads to the subjective experiences people have while taking the drug. Regardless, it is thought that LSD’s activity at a subtype of serotonin receptor known as the 5-HT2A receptor is critical to the drug’s psychedelic effects. LSD acts as a partial agonist at the 5-HT2A receptor, which means that it binds to the 5-HT2A receptor and generates a response that is a fraction of what the natural ligand, serotonin, generates. LSD also interacts with other receptors, although the role of these receptors in the effects of LSD is less clear. For example, LSD binds to other serotonin receptor subtypes as well as some subtypes of dopamine and adrenergic receptors. Research suggests that one large-scale effect of LSD on the brain is increased glutamate transmission in the frontal cortex, which is thought to play a role in the effects of LSD. Repeated administration of LSD over several days promotes rapid tolerance, where the drug has much less of an effect than it did initially. This tolerance is thought to be associated with the down-regulation, or decrease in number, of 5-HT2A serotonin receptors. LSD is not, however, considered to be addictive. And, although it is a potent drug, it is generally considered to be non-toxic and safe in terms of its effects on the body. References: Liechti ME. Modern Clinical Research on LSD. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2017 Oct;42(11):2114-2127. doi: 10.1038/npp.2017.86. Epub 2017 Apr 27. Nichols DE. Psychedelics. Pharmacol Rev. 2016 Apr;68(2):264-355. doi: 10.1124/pr.115.011478. Rickli A, Moning OD, Hoener MC, Liechti ME. Receptor interaction profiles of novel psychoactive tryptamines compared with classic hallucinogens. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2016 Aug;26(8):1327-37. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2016.05.001. Epub 2016 May 20. Special thanks to Nicole Lookfong for help with fact-checking this script.$

Major Brain Structures and Their Functions

$2-Minute Neuroscience: Psilocybin Psilocybin is a substance found in a number of mushroom species that can be ingested to cause psychoactive effects. Although psilocybin itself is thought to have very little (if any) psychoactive effects, upon ingestion it is rapidly metabolized into a highly psychoactive substance called psilocin. In this video, I discuss our understanding of psilocin’s effects on the brain. 🧠 Take your learning further with my free, self-paced Introduction to Neuroscience course featuring my videos, articles, and hundreds of quiz questions: https://neuroscientificallychallenged.com/course If youre looking for accessible and entertaining ways to learn more about the brain, check out my books: 📚Your Brain, Explained: What Neuroscience Reveals About Your Brain and its Quirks: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Brain-Explained-Neuroscience-Reveals/dp/1473696569/ 📚Bizarre: The Most Peculiar Cases of Human Behavior and What They Tell Us About How the Brain Works: https://www.amazon.com/Bizarre-Peculiar-Cases-Human-Behavior/dp/139980121X/ TRANSCRIPT: Psilocybin is a substance found in a number of mushroom species that can be ingested to cause psychoactive effects. It is considered a psychedelic or hallucinogenic drug with some similarities to LSD in terms of effects. Psilocybin itself is not thought to be very psychoactive, but soon after it is ingested it is metabolized into a substance called psilocin, which is highly psychoactive. Psilocybin is thus considered a prodrug, or a substance that is inactive until converted into an active drug after administration. Although we have some understanding of the activity of psilocin in the brain, it is not fully understood how this activity leads to the subjective experiences people have while taking psilocybin. Regardless, it is thought that psilocin’s activity at a subtype of serotonin receptor known as the 5-HT2A receptor is critical to the drug’s psychedelic effects. Psilocin is thought to act as a partial agonist at the 5-HT2A receptor, which means that it binds to the 5-HT2A receptor and causes a response that is a fraction of what the natural ligand, serotonin, does. Psilocin also interacts with other targets, like other serotonin receptor subtypes, some subtypes of dopamine, histamine, and adrenergic receptors, and the serotonin transporter. The role of these other targets in the effects of psilocybin, however, is not very clear. Like many other psychedelic drugs, repeated administration of psilocybin over multiple days leads to rapid tolerance and substantially reduced effectiveness. This tolerance is thought to be associated with the down-regulation, or decrease in number, of 5-HT2A serotonin receptors. Psilocybin also exhibits cross-tolerance with LSD, meaning that if someone develops tolerance to one of these drugs, they may display tolerance to the other regardless of their history with the other drug. Psilocybin, however, is not generally considered to be addictive and is thought to be safe in terms of its effects on the body. References: Geiger HA, Wurst MG, Daniels RN. DARK Classics in Chemical Neuroscience: Psilocybin. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2018 Oct 17;9(10):2438-2447. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.8b00186. Epub 2018 Jul 16. Nichols DE.Psychedelics. Pharmacol Rev. 2016 Apr;68(2):264-355. doi: 10.1124/pr.115.011478. Rickli A, Moning OD, Hoener MC, Liechti ME. Receptor interaction profiles of novel psychoactive tryptamines compared with classic hallucinogens. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2016 Aug;26(8):1327-37. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2016.05.001. Epub 2016 May 20. Tylš F, Páleníček T, Horáček J. Psilocybin summary of knowledge and new perspectives. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2014 Mar;24(3):342-56. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2013.12.006. Epub 2013 Dec 17.$

2-Minute Neuroscience: Default Mode Network