title: [Application of immunohistochemistry to the dead brain].
abstract: To evaluate the usefulness of immunohistochemistry for studies of brain tissues taken from patients with a clinically established diagnosis of brain death, we examined 8 brains that had been removed and fixed in formalin between 13 h and 5 days after diagnosis of brain death (Table). As a control we also examined the brain of a patient who had suffered extensive infarction with a 28-day clinical course and died of pneumonia. Routine examination of each of the brains revealed old to recent tissue necrosis associated with macrophages, capillary proliferation and/or astrocytic gliosis. The streptavidin-biotin immunoperoxidase method was applied to the materials using four monoclonal antibodies: antiglial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), anti-vimentin (vimentin), LN-1 and LN-3. GFAP was stained in reactive astrocytes even 5 days after diagnosis of brain death (Fig. 3, 7). Vimentin (Fig. 2, 4) was stained in reactive astrocytes until 3 days after diagnosis of brain death. LN-1 (Fig. 5) produced positive staining in resting microglias until 3 days after diagnosis of brain death. LN-3 (Fig. 1, 6, 8), which detects human leukocyte antigen-DR, stained reactive microglias and macrophages even 5 days after diagnosis of brain death. From our findings, it is considered that immunohistochemical examination is useful even in brains from patients diagnosed as brain-dead.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Niigata Nogeka Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamazaki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyakawa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arai
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D001926:Brain Death / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000032:analysis; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014746:Vimentin / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D014746:Vimentin