Domizio Suvà⁽¹⁾, Isabelle Favre⁽²⁾, Rudolf Kraftsik⁽³⁾, Monica Esteban⁽⁴⁾, Alexander Lobrinus⁽⁵⁾, Judit Miklossy^{(6)
(1)(2)(4)(5)(6)}CHUV, Institute of Pathology - Lausanne. Switzerland
⁽³⁾IBCM - Lausanne. Switzerland

Contact address:

Domizio Suvà CHUV, Institute of Pathology Rue du Bugnon 25 Lausanne Vaud 1011 Switzerland Judit.Miklossy@chuv.hospvd.ch

	[Neuroscience]	[Pathology]

ABSTRACT

In Alzheimer´s disease (AD) the involvement of entorhinal cortex, hippocampus and associative cortical areas is well established. Regarding the involvement of the primary motor cortex the reported data are contradictory. In order to determine whether or not the primary motor cortex is involved in AD, the brains of 29 autopsy cases were studied. There were 17 cases with severe cortical AD-type changes, fulfilling the definite diagnosis of AD, 7 age-matched cases with discrete to moderate cortical AD-type changes and 5 control cases, without any AD-type cortical changes. Morphometric analysis of the cortical surface occupied by senile plaques on beta-amyloid-immunostained sections and quantitative analysis of neurofibrillary tangles on Gallyas-stained sections was performed in five different cortical areas including the primary motor cortex. The percentage of cortical surface occupied by senile plaques was similar in all cortical areas, without significant difference and corresponded to 16.7% in entorhinal cortex, 21.3% in frontal associative, 16% in parietal asspociative, and 15.8% in primary motor cortex. The number of neurofibrillary tangles in the entorhinal cortex was significantly higher (41 per 0.4 mm2), compared to their number in other cortical areas (20.5 in frontal, 17.9 in parietal and 11.5 in the primary motor cortex). Our findings indicate that the primary motor cortex is significantly involved in AD and suggest the appearance of motor dysfunctions in late and terminal stages of the disease.

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Keywords: Alzheimer´s disease - Associative cortex - Neurofibrillary tangles - Primary motor cortex - Senile plaques -

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Discussion Board

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[ABSTRACT] [INTRODUCTION] [MATERIAL & METHODS] [RESULTS] [IMAGES] [DISCUSSION] [ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS] [BIBLIOGRAPHY] [Discussion Board]

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	[Neuroscience]	[Pathology]

Domizio Suvà, Isabelle Favre, Rudolf Kraftsik, Monica Esteban, Alexander Lobrinus, Judit Miklossy
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Last update: 14/01/00