Immunocytochemical detection of anti-hippocampal antibodies in Alzheimer's disease and normal cerebrospinal fluid.
Immunocytochemical staining was performed to investigate the presence of anti-hippocampal antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) (n = 19), aged normal controls (n = 9), and young normal controls (n = 10). Marked staining of neurons in the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus and in pyramidal neurons in CA1-3 of the rat hippocampus was observed in 5 AD CSF samples (26%), 1 aged control sample (11%), and 1 young control sample (10%). These differences were not statistically significant. One of the immunoreactive AD CSF specimens also contained high concentrations of C5b-9, the membrane attack complex. The infrequent occurrence of anti-hippocampal antibodies in AD CSF, and the detection of similar immunoreactivity in control CSF specimens, suggest that these antibodies are unlikely to play a role in the neurodegenerative process in most individuals with AD. However, elevated C5b-9 concentration in an AD CSF specimen with marked immunoreactivity to hippocampal neurons suggests the possibility that anti-neuronal antibodies may contribute to complement activation in some AD patients.
Loeffler
D A
DA
Neuroscience Program, Sinai Hospital, Detroit, Michigan 48235, USA.
Juneau
P L
PL
Nguyen
H U
HU
Najman
D
D
Pomara
N
N
LeWitt
P A
PA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009474:Neurons / Q000276:immunology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D001323:Autoantibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G