CLUSTERIN AS A MARKER FOR ISCHEMIC PURKINJE-CELLS IN HUMAN BRAIN

Clusterin has been implicated in cell death both in peripheral tissues and in the central nervous system. In the present study, expression o f clusterin in the cerebellar cortex was examined in two cases with hy poxic brain damage and in one ease with cerebellar infarction. Intense staining of Purkinje cells was observed in each case, and these cells showed the shrunken and pyknotic appearance characteristic of irrever sible ischaemic damage. In the cerebella of neurologically normal cont rol cases, as well as in those of some other neurodegenerative disease s, no staining or only punctate staining of Purkinje cells was observe d. The results provide additional evidence supporting an association o f clusterin with dying neurons in human brain.