title: Characterization of tau pathologies in gray and white matter of Guam parkinsonism-dementia complex.
abstract: Guam parkinsonism-dementia complex (PDC) is a neurodegenerative tauopathy in ethnic Chamorro residents of the Mariana Islands that manifests clinically with parkinsonism as well as dementia and is characterized neuropathologically by prominent cortical neuron loss in association with extensive telencephalic neurofibrillary tau pathology. To further characterize cortical gray and white matter tau, alpha-synuclein and lipid peroxidation pathologies in Guam PDC, we examined the brains of 17 Chamorro PDC and control subjects using biochemical and immunohistological techniques. We observed insoluble tau pathology in both gray and white matter of PDC and Guam control cases, with frontal and temporal lobes being most severely affected. Using phosphorylation dependent anti-tau antibodies, abundant tau inclusions were detected by immunohistochemistry in both neuronal and glial cells of the neocortex, while less alpha-synuclein pathology was observed in more limited brain regions. Further, in sharp contrast to Alzheimer's disease (AD), levels of the lipid peroxidation product 8, 12-iso-iPF(2alpha)-VI isoprostane were not elevated in Guam PDC brains relative to controls. Thus, although the tau pathologies of Guam PDC share similarities with AD, the composite Guam PDC neuropathology profile of tau, alpha-synuclein and 8, 12-iso-iPF(2alpha)-VI isoprostane reported here more closely resembles that seen in other tauopathies including frontotemporal dementias (FTDs), which may imply that Guam PDC and FTD tauopathies share underlying mechanisms of neurodegeneration.
authors.affiliation: The Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4283, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Winton
authors.forename: Sonali
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Joyce
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zhukareva
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Practico
authors.forename: Daniel P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Perl
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Galasko
authors.forename: Ula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.forename: John Q
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Trojanowski
authors.forename: Virginia M-Y
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003704:Dementia / Q000208:ethnology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015237:Dinoprost / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006141:Guam / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D044468:Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000208:ethnology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D010487:Periaqueductal Gray / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D051844:alpha-Synuclein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C115626:8,12-iso-isoprostane F2alpha-VI; D051844:alpha-Synuclein; D016875:tau Proteins; D015237:Dinoprost