TOPOGRAPHY OF NEUROFIBRILLARY TANGLES AND GRANULOVACUOLES IN HIPPOCAMPI OF PATIENTS WITH DOWN'S SYNDROME: QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON WITH NORMAL AGEING AND ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
An XY pen recorder linked potentiometrically to a sampling stage microscope permitted the plotting of topographic scattergrams to determine the precise cytoarchitectonic localization of neurofibrillary tangles and granulovacuolar degeneration in hippocampal neurons of Down''s syndrome adult brains. The area (and hence volume) of 6 cortical zones was measured with a digitizer and programmable calculator. In decreasing magnitude of affliction the rank order for neurofibrillary tangles was entorhinal > subiculum > H1 > endplate > H2 > presubiculum. For granulovacuolar change the order was subiculum > H1 > H2 > endplate > entorhinal > presubiculum. A common neurotransmitter deficit may underlie the local selectivity of lesions in Down''s syndrome brains; the predilections'' marked similarities to ranking orders, already noted in normal aged humans and especially in senile dements of the Alzheimer type, enhance the importance of the Down''s syndrome neuraxis as a key to the puzzle of Alzheimer''s dementia.