RESEARCH: pathologic diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases

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Zhonghua Nei Ke Za Zhi 2002 Feb;41(2):120-3

[The application of Gallyas-Braak stainings in pathologic diagnosis of

neurodegenerative diseases]

Wang L, Zhu M, Li X, Gui Q.

Department of Neurology, General Hospital of PLA, Beijing 100853, China.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role of Gallyas silver staining in the diagnosis

of neurodegenerative diseases. METHOD: Modified Gallyas-Braak staining

method was used to investigate samples of the brain and spinal cord of 22

cases with neurodegenerative disease including Alzheimer's disease (AD),

Parkinson's diseas (PD), Pick's disease, diffuse Lewy body disease (DLBD),

progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), diagnosed by clinical and routine

pathologic method. 10 cases without clinical symptoms and pathologic

abnormalities of the nervous system served as control. RESULT: As compared

with Bodian staining, Gallyas-Braak staining demonstrated clearly

neurofibrillary tangles in the hippocampus and the cortex of frontal and

temperal lobe in all the cases with Alzheimer's disease, 6 cases with

dementia of other causes and 3 normal aged. However, global neurofibrillary

tangles in the midbrain and the basal ganglia were found only with

Gallyas-Braak staining in 4 cases with both dementia and extrapyramidal

features. In addition, tuft-shaped astrocytes were shown with this method in

the motor cortex, basal ganglia, midbrain of the above 4 cases and

astrocytic plaques in the same area in 2 cases of the 4 cases. In this

connexion, pathologic findings in 2 of the 4 cases corresponded to PSP and

those of the other two cases fufiled the diagnostic criteria of corticobasal

degeneration (CBD) Oligodendroglial cytoplasmic inclusions in the white

matter of the brain and the spinal cord were founded in 3 of the 4 cases

with multiple system atrophy (MSA). This silver staining demonstrated as

well a lot of argyrophilic grains in the neuropil of the temporal lobe and

the hippocampus in one case with AD. CONCLUSION: Gallyas silver staining

could better reveal not only Alzheimer-like neurofibrillary tangles but also

different glial inclusions in other neurodegenerative diseases such as PSP,

CBD and MSA. Consequently, it is of great value in the pathologic diagnosis

and study of such degenerative diseases.

PMID: 11940310 [PubMed - in process]