Pick's disease: cytoskeletal changes in the hypothalamic lateral tuberal nucleus.
Basolateral portions of the human hypothalamus contain an extended nuclear gray, the lateral tuberal nucleus (LTN), which undergoes conspicuous pathological changes in a number of neurodegenerative diseases. The present study points to the severe affliction of this nucleus in Pick's disease (PID). Immunoreactions for abnormally phosphorylated tau-protein permit identification of the permutations. Only a fraction of the abnormal fibrillary material developing in the course of the disease shows a pronounced argyrophilia. Key features are the Pick bodies (PBs) which contain an argyrophilic material. Unusual non-spherical PBs develop in the LTN as flat structures with peripheral indentations. Small teardrop-like Pick neurites (PNs) emerge in varicose widenings of neuronal processes and display a much weaker argyrophilia. The characteristic alterations seen in PID reliably can be differentiated from lesions of the LTN which slowly emerge in the course of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Braak
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H
Department of Anatomy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt, Main, Germany. braak@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Braak
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E
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003704:Dementia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007026:Hypothalamic Area, Lateral / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D007158:Immunologic Techniques; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010766:Phosphorylation; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
D016875:tau Proteins