NEUROPATHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE CEREBRAL-CORTEX OF 1258 CASES FROM AGERIATRIC HOSPITAL - RETROSPECTIVE CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF A 10-YEAR AUTOPSY POPULATION

Citation
P. Giannakopoulos et al., NEUROPATHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE CEREBRAL-CORTEX OF 1258 CASES FROM AGERIATRIC HOSPITAL - RETROSPECTIVE CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF A 10-YEAR AUTOPSY POPULATION, Acta Neuropathologica, 87(5), 1994, pp. 456-468
Citations number
77
Categorie Soggetti
Neurosciences
Journal title
ISSN journal
00016322
Volume
87
Issue
5
Year of publication
1994
Pages
456 - 468
Database
ISI
SICI code
0001-6322(1994)87:5<456:NCITCO>2.0.ZU;2-8
Abstract
To examine the neuropathological and clinical characteristics of,cereb ral aging, we evaluated retrospectively a non-selected autopsy populat ion of 1258 patients from the Geriatric Hospital of the University of Geneva School of Medecine. The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease incre ased with age below 90 years of age. In the nonagenarians and centenar ians, there was a decline in the number of affected cases. The distrib ution with age of neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques varied am ong the cortical areas studied. The CA1 field of the hippocampus and t he inferior temporal cortex displayed increasing densities of neurofib rillary tangles with age, whereas the superior frontal and the occipit al cortex were relatively spared, especially in patients in their tent h and eleventh decade. The percentage of cases presenting with senile plaques in the neocortex and hippocampal structure increased with age with a marked predominance of cases with moderate to high senile plaqu e densities. Neurofibrillary tangles were often observed in the CA1 fi eld and the inferior temporal cortex of non-demented individuals and w ere present in most cases with Alzheimer's disease. Conversely, the in volvement of the superior frontal and occipital cortex was moderate ev en in demented patients. The distribution of senile plaques was homoge neous in all of the neocortical areas independently of the clinical di agnosis. Moreover, there was no correlation between the presence of ne urofibrillary tangles and senile plaques in the cerebral regions studi ed. These results indicate a differential topography of neurofibrillar y tangles and senile plaques, and suggest that overt clinical signs of Alzheimer's disease are linked to the progression of the neurodegener ative process in neocortical areas.