Ultrastructural Changes of Blood Vessels in the Cerebral Cortex in Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract

Several parts of the cerebral cortices in five brains from patientswith Alzheimer's disease were examined by light and electron microscopes. The results obtained are as follows: The initial change of the cerebral cortex in the brain occurred in the small blood vessel and capillary. The endothelial cell of the blood vessel fell into a degenerated state with swelling of the vascular feet and astroglial cells. The change in a great number of nerve cells and their processes diffusely observed in the cortices were nonspecific andcould be due to primary vascular degeneration. Severe dementia in Alzheimer's disease seemed to be well explained by the histo‐pathological findings of diffusely destroyed nerve cells and their processes. From this, Alzheimer's disease can be speculated to be a disease caused by progressive capillary degeneration.

Quantitative measurement of cerebral haemodynamics in early vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease

“…It is interesting to note that the capillaries in AD have pathological changes of coiling and beading, as well as evidence of basement membrane disruption. [24][25][26] Could there be a causative link? Conversely, in VaD, the arteriolar compliance may be elevated.…”

Alzheimer Disease as a Vascular Disorder

“…These cerebral microvessel aberrations have been consistently observed in AD brain tissue by a considerable number of investigators using a variety of histological techniques. [135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143] The degenerate capillaries appear more prevalent in the hippocampus, 136,139,142 a region that is linked to memory and learning and is an initial target for neurofibrillary tangle formation in AD. 144 Microvessel changes in AD brains show no correlation to the stage of the disease (Braak I to VI), a finding that suggests that such capillary anomalies are not a consequence of AD pathology.…”

The vascular factor in Alzheimer's disease: A study in Golgi technique and electron microscopy

“…In addition, hypertension and microvascular pathology, may be responsible for the subcortical white matter lesions found frequently in AD [3,18,19]. The histopathological and ultrastructural alterations of the vessels in AD [20][21][22], may contribute to the failure of hemodynamic control in crucial for cognition areas of the brain [22,23]. It is well known that the permeability of the brain capillaries is very limited, due to the blood-brain barrier [24], which restricts entry of polar molecules into the brain [25].…”