IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EVIDENCE FOR APOPTOSIS IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

RECENTLY, in vitro studies conducted in our laboratory and others have suggested that apoptosis may have a role in the neuronal cell death a ssociated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). To evaluate this hypothesis, the hippocampi and entorhinal cortices of AD, aged control, and surgic al biopsy tissue were examined using the ApopTag system for the detect ion of DNA fragmentation and DNA stains to reveal nuclear morphology. Numerous neuronal nuclei displaying distinct morphological characteris tics of apoptosis were present within tangle-bearing neurons as well a s non-tangle-bearing neurons in AD brain, whereas few or no such nucle i were detected in control brain. Our in vivo results support the hypo thesis that apoptosis may be one mechanism leading neuronal cell death in AD.