Silver Impregnation of Alzheimer's Neurofibrillary Changes Counterstained for Basophilic Material and Lipofuscin Pigment

A method is described in which selective silver staining of Alzheimer's neurofibrillary changes is combined with staining of cell nuclei, Nissl material, and lipofuscin granules. Formalin fixed, paraffin embedded sections of human autopsy tissue are silver stained according to a method proposed by Gallyas. Lipofuscin is stained by crotonaldehyde fuchsin following performic acid oxidation. Nissl substance is visualized by either Darrow red or gallocyanin-chrome alum staining. Architectonic units showing the specific pathology and the neuronal types prone to develop the neurofibrillary changes can be recognized using this technique.

Klinische Aspekte der "argyrophilic grain disease"

Argyrophilic grain disease (AGD) is a frequently occurring degenerative illness of the aging human brain. It is accompanied by progressive pathological alterations of the cytsokeleton which are traceable to an abnormal phosphorylation of the microtubule associated tau protein. Histologically, it is possible with the help of suitable staining techniques to identify pathognomonic spindle-shaped cellular inclusions (argyrophilic grains). These cellular inclusions display a typical cortical as well as subcortical distribution pattern. The goal of the present study is the retrospective evaluation of the clinical findings from 53 individuals with neuropathologically demonstrable AGD-related chang…

Neurofibrillary tangles and neuropil threads as a cause of dementia in Parkinson’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are the most common age-related degenerative disorders of the human brain. Both diseases involve multiple neuronal systems and are the consequences of cytoskeletal abnormalities. In AD susceptible neurons produce neurofibrillary changes, while in Parkinson’s disease, they develop Lewy bodies. In AD six developmental stages can be distinguished on account of the predictable manner in which the neurofibrillary changes spread across the cerebral cortex. During the course of PD numerous limbic determined parts of the brain undergo specific lesions regulating endocrine and autonomic functions. In general, the extranigral destructions are in t…

Amygdala pathology in Parkinson's disease.

The amygdala undergoes severe pathological changes during the course of Parkinson's disease (PD). Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites are distributed in a specific manner throughout the nuclear complex. The lesional pattern displays only minor interindividual variation. The most prominent changes occur in the accessory cortical and central nuclei. The cortical, accessory basal and granular nuclei show less severe alterations, while the basal and lateral nuclei, as well as the intercalated cell masses, generally remain uninvolved. The amygdala receives a broad range of afferents, allowing integration of exteroceptive information with interoceptive data. It generates major projections to the isocor…

Pattern of brain destruction in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are the most common age-related degenerative disorders of the human brain. Both diseases involve multiple neuronal systems and are the consequences of cytoskeletal abnormalities which gradually develop in only a small number of neuronal types. In AD, susceptible neurons produce neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and neuropil threads (NTs), while in PD, they develop Lewy bodies (LBs) and Lewy neurites (LNs). The specific lesional pattern of both illnesses accrues slowly over time and remains remarkably consistent across cases. In AD, six developmental stages can be distinguished on account of the predictable manner in which the neurofibrillar…

Topical Review: Functional Anatomy of Human Hippocampal Formation and Related Structures

Data on the internal organization, and neuronal connections of the human hippocampal formation and related structures of the limbic system are briefly reviewed. In the healthy brain, somatosensory, visual, and auditory input proceeds through neocortical core and belt fields to a variety of association areas, and from here the data is transported via long cortico-cortical pathways to the extended prefrontal association cortex. Tracts generated from this highest organizational level of the brain guide the data via the frontal belt (premotor cortex) to the frontal core (primary motor area). The striatal and cerebellar loops provide the major routes for this data transfer. The main components o…

Allocortical neurofibrillary changes in progressive supranuclear palsy.

Silver techniques for intraneuronal cytoskeleton abnormalities (neurofibrillary tangles and neuropil threads) and extracellular A4-amyloid deposits were used to examine lesions of the cerebral cortex in six cases of progressive supranuclear palsy (three were mentally unimpaired and three showed moderate degrees of dementia). Deposits of A4-amyloid protein occurred in small numbers or were absent. Neurofibrillary tangles and neuropil threads were present in all cases and were largely confined to the allocortex. A characteristic pattern of changes was found in the entorhinal cortex. The three mentally unimpaired individuals had mild cortical changes virtually confined to the transentorhinal r…

Isocortical Pathology in Type C Niemann-Pick Disease

A case of Niemann-Pick disease was examined with Golgi preparations and a transparent Golgi impregnation counterstained for intraneuronal pigment deposits. There was a specific type of storage of unmetabolized substrate restricted to certain nerve cell types. The most conspicuous changes in the isocortex were: 1) dilated axonal segments in layer IIIab pyramidal cells filled with storage material; the volume of these axonal expansions often exceeded that of the soma; 2) distension of layer IIIc, layer V, and layer VIa pyramidal cell perikarya with storage material; 3) new formation, elongation, and vertical orientation of basal dendrites in layer V pyramidal cells; 4) well-preserved pyramida…

Alzheimer's disease: Amyloid deposits in the cerebellar cortex

Alzheimer-related changes in the presubicular region

Alzheimer's disease: amyloid plaques in the cerebellum

Two specific silver-staining methods demonstrating either extracellular amyloid and/or precursors of amyloid or intraneuronal neurofibrillary changes were used to examine cerebellar pathology in cases of presenile and senile dementia of the Alzheimer type, cases of Down's syndrome, and non-demented controls. The sensitivity of the techniques permitted visualization of large numbers of amyloid deposits in the cerebellar cortex of demented individuals. Similarly large numbers of amyloid deposits were not found in the cerebella of non-demented individuals. Neurofibrillary changes were absent. The majority of amyloid plaques occurred in the molecular layer. Quite a number of these displayed lar…