Morphological Changes of the Human Purkinje Cells and Deposition of Neuritic Plaques and Neurofibrillary Tangles on the Cerebellar Cortex of Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by progressive decline in memory and in social performance. The morphological hallmarks of the disease are neuronal loss, loss of dendritic spines, neurofibrillary degeneration and neuritic plaques mainly in the hippocampus and the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres. This study is based on the morphological analysis of the cerebellar cortices of eight brains, 4 patients suffered from Alzheimer's disease and 4 normal controls, by Golgi method, as well as Nissl, Gallyas', Bielschowsky's, Methenamine Silver staining and Congo red methods. Although typical neuritic plaques were not seen in the cerebellar cortex and the diffuse plaques found in the cerebellum in far smaller proportion than plaques in the prefrontal and parietal cortices of the same cases, Golgi impregnation technique revealed a loss of Purkinje cells and a marked decrease in the density of dendritic arborization.

Original article Dendritic and spinal alterations of neurons from Edinger-Westphal nucleus in Alzheimer’s disease

“…In previous studies of ours using the Golgi method and 3D neuronal reconstruction techniques, severe dendritic and spinal alterations were seen in Alzheimer's disease and normal aged brains [18][19][20].…”

“…Histological criteria for the diagnosis of AD were those outlined by the National Institutes of Health/American Association of Retired Persons (NIH/AARP) Research Workshop on the Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease. All cases fulfilled the histological criteria for AD [18].…”

“…Macroscopically, cerebral atrophy is easily recognized in the majority of cases of Alzheimer's disease, being the most obvious in the temporal and parietal lobes [1,14]. Light microscopy reveals senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus before spreading in other brain areas such as the acoustic and visual cortex, frontal cortex, and cerebellum [5,18,19,30,35].…”

Recent Progress of the Golgi Technique and Electron Microscopy To Examine Dendritic Pathology In Alzheimer‘s Disease

“…Studies based on Golgi staining and electron microscopy have revealed dendritic and spinal changes in the prefrontal cortex, cerebellum and visual and acoustic cortices [9,10], which consisted mostly of a tremendous decrease of spine density, spinal poverty and loss of the distal dendritic spines. In addition, the morphometric estimation of the dendritic branches and spines of early cases of Alzheimer's disease revealed a 45% reduction of branches of the apical and the basal dendrites and a 52% reduction of dendritic spines in the acoustic and visual cortices [11].…”

“…Electron microscopy revealed substantial synaptic alterations between mossy fibers and granule cell dendrites, characterized by polymorphisms, paucity of synaptic vesicles and marked mitochondrial alterations [12]. In the cerebellar cortex, morphometric estimation revealed a 43% reduction of Purkinje cell dendritic spines and a 16% increase in the length of the spines, associated with marked abridgment of dendritic arborization, which covered only 61% of the depth of the molecular layer [11].…”