Dendritic Pathology and Spinal Loss in the Visual Cortex in Alzheimer's Disease: A Golgi Study in Pathology

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive decline in memory, loss of professional skills, impairment of judgement and behavior, and decline in social performances. In terms of neuropathology, the morphological hallmarks of the disease are the accumulation of alpha-beta peptide and the neurofibrillary degeneration, associated with synaptic alterations, involving mostly the dendritic spines. This study is based on the morphological analysis of 10 brains, 5 of which were obtained from patients who suffered from Alzheimer's disease and 5 from nondemented senile individuals used as control group. The segments taken in major from the occipital lobe were studied with the use of Golgi method, as well as Gallyas' and Bielschowski' s staining methods. In most of the pyramidal cells in the affected brains, there seems to be important spine loss and extensive dendrite pathology. Apical dendrites are distorted and tortuous. Horizontal dendritic arborization is severely decreased leading to an amputated, bell-shaped cell soma. Senile plaques have been often revealed, and neurofibrillary changes have also been noticed.

Original article Dendritic and spinal alterations of neurons from Edinger-Westphal nucleus in Alzheimer’s disease

“…In previous studies of ours using the Golgi method and 3D neuronal reconstruction techniques, severe dendritic and spinal alterations were seen in Alzheimer's disease and normal aged brains [18][19][20].…”

“…The EW nucleus was identified according to Scinto et al's studies [28,29]. The tissue blocks were coded in order to prevent experimental bias and were used for silver techniques [18][19][20], Congo red method [2], Bielschowsky staining [16], Gallyas technique [33] and Nissl staining [24].…”

“…Macroscopically, cerebral atrophy is easily recognized in the majority of cases of Alzheimer's disease, being the most obvious in the temporal and parietal lobes [1,14]. Light microscopy reveals senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus before spreading in other brain areas such as the acoustic and visual cortex, frontal cortex, and cerebellum [5,18,19,30,35].…”

Original article Age-related dendritic and spinal alterations of pyramidal cells of the human visual cortex

“…In previous studies we have shown significant dendritic and spinal changes in the visual cortex during normal ageing [33] and in Alzheimer's disease [32]. In the present study we attempted to describe the morphological and morphometric alterations of the dendrites and the dendritic spines of the pyra midal cells of the visual cortex during normal aging, in order to approach the visual impairment of aged individuals from a neuropathological point of view.…”

Original article Dendritic and spinal alterations of the spiny stellate cells of the human visual cortex during normal aging

“…In our previous study, we demonstrated significant changes in the pyramidal and stellate cells of the human visual cortex in Alzheimer's disease [30].…”