Neurite outgrowth on postmortem human brain cryostat sections: Studies of non-alzheimer's and alzheimer's tissue

Tissue sections as culture substrates: Overview and critique

“…In the initial study using postmortem Alzheimer's disease tissue, sympathetic neurites did not show an affinity for plaques, although their growth was strongly promoted by vascular segments in the same tissue sections (Crutcher et al, 1991). In fact, neurites appeared to avoid plaques.…”

“…Most studies have used rat tissue sections (Carbonetto et al, 1987;Matthew, 1987a, 1987b;Crutcher, 1989;Savio and Schwab, 1989;Watanabe and Murakami, 1989;David et al, 1990;Sagot et al, 1991;Bedi et al, 1992). Other sources include fish (Carbonetto et d., 1987;Savio and Schwab, 1989) and human brain tissue (Crutcher and Privitera, 1989;Crutcher et al, 1991). Different techniques have been used, but the approach is relatively simple.…”

“…The feasibility of using human brain tissue derived at autopsy for tissue section culture was tested by comparing chick sympathetic explant growth on cortical tissue obtained from patients with Alzheimer's disease or from those without a history of dementia (Crutcher et al, 1991). Postmortem tissue supported attachment and neurite outgrowth of both explants and dissociated sympathetic neurons.…”

“…Organotypic culture relies on living slices of embryonic or neonatal tissue that continue to develop in culture in a manner maintaining much of the normal organizational structure. For tissue obtained from the central nervous system (CNS), this method is limited to early developmental stages because mature CNS neurons do not survive nabe and Murakami, 1989Murakami, , 1990David et al, 1990;Khan et al, 1990;Crutcher et al, 1991;Kljavin et al, 1991;Sagot et al, 1991;Bedi et al, 1992;Guptaand Bigbee, 1992). Although they used different procedures, many of their findings are in agreement.…”

Cellular and molecular pathology in alzheimer's disease

“…The technique is feasible because of the ability to identify the plaques within tissue sections after they have been used as substrates for cultured neurons. Two studies, one involving cultures of chick sympathetic neurons (Crutcher et al, 1991) and the other employing dissociated fetal rat hippocampal neurons (Carpenter et al, 1993), have been carried out. In both studies, plaques did not appear to stimulate neurite outgrowth.…”