Stains for the differential diagnosis of degenerative dementias

Our understanding of the structural substrates underlying the dementia synd rome has been transformed by the introduction of the Gallyas silver stain a nd the application of immunostains for tau, ubiquitin, and alpha-synuclein, Visualization of sequential changes in Alzheimer's disease and the recogni tion of a new substrate for dementia and dementia with argyrophilic grains, are two of the advances related to the application of the Gallyas method, The specificity of alpha-synuclein for recognizing Lewy bodies enables the unequivocal diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies. The diverse entities th at constitute the Pick complex can be identified by applying immunostains f or tau and ubiquitin in addition to the Gallyas silver stain.