title: Correlation between glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytes and age in the human hippocampus.
abstract: The hippocampus is one of the areas most vulnerable to histopathological changes, and such changes may yield useful information in forensic medicine. We found that glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive astrocytes are frequently found in the hippocampus of consecutive series of forensic brains, distributed predominantly in the hippocampal CA4 and hippocampal sulcus (HS) regions. The present study counted GFAP-positive astrocytes in these regions and investigated associations with age, cause of death and postmortem time. Significant correlations were found between age and number of GFAP-positive astrocytes in both CA4 and HS regions. Number of GFAP-positive astrocytes increases in an age-dependent manner, but no correlations were noted between number of GFAP-positive astrocytes and postmortem time and cause of death. Number of GFAP-positive astrocytes in the hippocampus may provide useful information for age estimation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan. t-tohru@hsp.md.shinshu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tohru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Naoji
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amano
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Asamura
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nomiyama
authors.forename: Tokiji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hanihara
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukushima
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein