Nuclear inclusions in spinocerebellar ataxia type 1

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 is due to a CAG repeat expansion in the gene encoding ataxin-1. In a case with an expansion of 56 repeats, intranuclear inclusions were found only in neurons, both in severely affected regions (s uch as the pens) and in areas where the lesions were inconspicuous (such as the cortex or the striatum). The inclusions were labelled by a monoclonal antibody directed against long polyglutamine stretches (1C2); they were als o detected by the anti-ubiquitin antibody. They were faintly eosinophilic, Congo red negative and were not stained by thioflavin S or by ethidium brom ide.