[A comparative study of six different staining methods on neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques]. 1993

J Wu
Department of Pathology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing.

Six different staining methods were evaluated for demonstrating SPs and NFTs by using serial sections of brain tissue collected from aged patients with or without senile dementia. The methods used were as follows: the Bodian, Modified Beilschowsky, Periodic acid methenamine silver (PAMS), New methenamine silver (MS), PAS and Congo Red. SPs and NFTs were demonstrated in the cerebral cortex of aged patients with or without dementia. Among these 6 methods Bodian gives a more reliable result in demonstrating tangles and plaques of the classic and primitive types but not the diffuse type. The MS method clearly demonstrated all the 3 types of SPs particularly the diffuse plaque, but could not show the NFTs. The result indicates that combination of Bodian and MS methods seemed to be the most reliable method for routine neuropathological investigation.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D002540 Cerebral Cortex The thin layer of GRAY MATTER on the surface of the CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES that develops from the TELENCEPHALON and folds into gyri and sulci. It reaches its highest development in humans and is responsible for intellectual faculties and higher mental functions. Allocortex,Archipallium,Cortex Cerebri,Cortical Plate,Paleocortex,Periallocortex,Allocortices,Archipalliums,Cerebral Cortices,Cortex Cerebrus,Cortex, Cerebral,Cortical Plates,Paleocortices,Periallocortices,Plate, Cortical
D003704 Dementia An acquired organic mental disorder with loss of intellectual abilities of sufficient severity to interfere with social or occupational functioning. The dysfunction is multifaceted and involves memory, behavior, personality, judgment, attention, spatial relations, language, abstract thought, and other executive functions. The intellectual decline is usually progressive, and initially spares the level of consciousness. Senile Paranoid Dementia,Amentia,Familial Dementia,Amentias,Dementia, Familial,Dementias,Dementias, Familial,Dementias, Senile Paranoid,Familial Dementias,Paranoid Dementia, Senile,Paranoid Dementias, Senile,Senile Paranoid Dementias
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000368 Aged A person 65 years of age or older. For a person older than 79 years, AGED, 80 AND OVER is available. Elderly
D012880 Skin Pigmentation Coloration of the skin. Skin Color,Skin Tone,Color, Skin,Colors, Skin,Pigmentation, Skin,Pigmentations, Skin,Skin Colors,Skin Pigmentations,Skin Tones,Tone, Skin,Tones, Skin
D016622 Silver Staining The use of silver, usually silver nitrate, as a reagent for producing contrast or coloration in tissue specimens. Silver Nitrate Staining,Nitrate Staining, Silver,Staining, Silver,Staining, Silver Nitrate
D016874 Neurofibrillary Tangles Abnormal structures located in various parts of the brain and composed of dense arrays of paired helical filaments (neurofilaments and microtubules). These double helical stacks of transverse subunits are twisted into left-handed ribbon-like filaments that likely incorporate the following proteins: (1) the intermediate filaments: medium- and high-molecular-weight neurofilaments; (2) the microtubule-associated proteins map-2 and tau; (3) actin; and (4) UBIQUITINS. As one of the hallmarks of ALZHEIMER DISEASE, the neurofibrillary tangles eventually occupy the whole of the cytoplasm in certain classes of cell in the neocortex, hippocampus, brain stem, and diencephalon. The number of these tangles, as seen in post mortem histology, correlates with the degree of dementia during life. Some studies suggest that tangle antigens leak into the systemic circulation both in the course of normal aging and in cases of Alzheimer disease. Neurofibrillary Tangle,Tangle, Neurofibrillary,Tangles, Neurofibrillary

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