title: Further ultrastructural evidence that spirochaetes may play a role in the aetiology of Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Recently it was reported that, at autopsy, in neuropathologically confirmed cases of Alzheimer's disease spirochaetes were found in blood and cerebrospinal fluid using dark-field microscopy. Moreover, the spirochaetes were isolated and cultured from brain tissue. We now show, using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy that the helically shaped microorganisms isolated and cultured from the Alzheimer brains possess axial filaments. This indicates that these microorganisms taxonomically indeed belong to the order Spirochaetales. A morphometric analysis reinforces this notion.
authors.affiliation: University Institute of Pathology, Division of Neuropathology, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miklossy
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kasas
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Janzer
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ardizzoni
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Van der Loos
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000382:microbiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000382:microbiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D009474:Neurons / Q000382:microbiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013145:Spirochaetales Infections / Q000382:microbiology*