An immunohistochemical study on cathepsin D in human hippocampus.
Cathepsin D is a lysosomal enzyme involved in neuronal degeneration. In this study, the immunohistochemistry of cathepsin D was studied in hippocampal CA1 neurons that are vulnerable to ischemia, and parahippocampal glial cells. CA1 neurons from the majority of cases showed cathepsin D immunoreactivity in the cytoplasm, whereas shrunk neurons were unstained in only one case. There was no statistically significant correlation between the postmortem interval between death and autopsy, and cathepsin D immunoreactivity in CA1 neurons. These observations indicate that cathepsin D immunoreactivity is not a sensitive marker for neuronal degeneration or postmortem changes. On the other hand, there was a statistically significant correlation between age and cathepsin D immunoreactivity in the cytoplasm of parahippocampal glial cells. This shows that senescence is correlated with cathepsin D expression in humans as has been reported previously in an animal study.
Nogami
M
M
Department of Legal Medicine, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Takatsu
A
A
Endo
N
N
Ishiyama
I
I
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001344:Autopsy; D002402:Cathepsin D / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D002402:Cathepsin D