Dendritic and spinal pathology in the acoustic cortex in Alzheimer's disease: morphological and morphometric estimation

Acta Otolaryngol. 2007 Apr ;127 (4):351-4 17453452 (P,S,G,E,B)
Dendritic and spinal pathology in the acoustic cortex in Alzheimer's disease: morphological and morphometric estimation by Golgi technique and electron microscopy.
[My paper] Stavros J Baloyannis, Vassiliki Costa, Ioannis Mauroudis, Demetrios Psaroulis, Spyros L Manolides, Leonidas S Manolides
Department of Neurology, Aristotelian University. Thessaloniki. Greece.
Conclusions. The morphological and morphometric estimation of the dendrites and the dendritic spines in the acoustic cortex in Alzheimer's disease revealed substantial alterations of the dendritic arborization and marked loss of the dendritic spines. This may be related to communication impairment even in early cases of Alzheimer's disease. Objectives. Alzheimer's disease is characterized by progressive loss of memory, impairment of judgment, and decline in communication and speech eloquence. In the present study we attempted to describe the morphological and morphometric alterations of the dendrites and the dendritic spines in the acoustic cortex in early cases of Alzheimer's disease, in order to approach the communication impairment of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease, from the neuropathological point of view. Materials and methods. We studied the acoustic cortex in 22 cases of Alzheimer's disease by Golgi technique and electron microscopy. Results. The morphological and morphometric estimation of the acoustic cortex revealed loss of Cajal-Retzius cells in layer I, as well as an impressive abbreviation of the dendritic fields associated with loss of dendritic spines in all layers of the cortex. Numerous distorted, dystrophic and degenerated dendritic spines were also seen, which were intermixed with a considerable number of giant spines. The dendritic and spinal alterations were closely associated with mitochondrial alterations.

Int J Neurosci. 2008 Feb ;118 (2):257-266 18205081 (P,S,G,E,B) THE COMBINATION OF SILVER TECHNIQUES FOR STUDYING THE PATHOLOGY OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE.

Int J Neurosci. 2008 Feb ;118 (2):257-266 18205081 (P,S,G,E,B)
THE COMBINATION OF SILVER TECHNIQUES FOR STUDYING THE PATHOLOGY OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE.
[My paper] K Tsamis, D Mytilinaios, S N Njau, D Psaroulis, J Mavroudis, V Costa, S J Baloyannis
Laboratory of Neuropathology 1st Department of Neurology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Alzheimer's diseaseis a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, which implicates the whole central nervous system. The hallmarks of the disease are the development of neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, the accumulation of beta-amyloid in the cytoplasm of the neurons (soluble beta-amyloid oligomers) and the neuropile space (insoluble amyloidal fibrils), the neuronal loss, and the devastating synaptic alterations. Despite the fact that for the identification of the plaques and tangles and for the detection of the amyloid deposits and the neuronal loss, there are specific techniques even in light microscopy, synaptic pathology can be studied only with electron microscopy or indirectly with immunohistochemistry, because several alterations in the density of proteins located in synaptic junction (drebrin, synapsin, synaptophisin) may be occurring. Thus, this article presents original Nauta method impregnating degenerating axons as well as axonic terminals in post-mortem material derived from patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, the article proposes its application in combination with Golgi method and Gallyas technique for a spheroid view of the neuronal degeneration and synaptic pathology in the study of any brain region in Alzheimer's disease.

Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2008 May 28; : 18509104 (P,S,G,E,B) Antibodies Against GM1 in Demented Patients.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of antiGM1 in demented patients, correlating them with the type and severity of dementia as well as with the eventually coexistent polyneuropathy. Anti-GM1 concentrations were measured in the sera of 33 demented patients with a male-to-female ratio of 1:2.7 (the mean age was 69.7 years for males and 70.1 years for females). Eighty-two percent of the patients revealed increased values of anti-GM1, but only 18.2% demonstrated polyneuropathies. Fifty-nine percent of the patients suffered from vascular dementia. The most severely demented patients demonstrated a Mini-Mental State Examination score of 5 to 23 out of 30 and revealed the most increased levels of anti-GM1 (>40 EU/mL). The findings of this study are indicative of a possible correlation between the levels of anti-GM1 and the severity of dementia, mainly of the vascular type.

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