IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL LOCALIZATION OF AMYLOID BETA-PROTEIN DEPOSITS IN EXTRACEREBRAL TISSUES OF PATIENTS WITH ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

An autopsy study was conducted on patients with Alzheimer's disease in order to explore the possibility of amyloid beta-protein deposits in tissues other than the brain. Immunoperoxidase staining techniques wer e employed using an amyloid beta-protein antiserum as primary antibody ; paraffin sections of kidney, liver, heart, lung, spleen, bone marrow , colon, stomach, adrenal, thyroid, and brain were examined. Our autop sy cases were divided into two groups. The first group comprised 10 pa tients with Alzheimer's disease. The second group consisted of eight c ontrol cases, of age-matched individuals, that died of unrelated cause s and showed no clinicopathologic evidence of Alzheimer's disease. Ide ntification was made of strong, although focal, positive staining in t wo kidneys and one lung of three different patients with Alzheimer's d isease. All other tissues, including the control cases, showed negativ e staining.