Appearance of tau-2 immunoreactivity in glial cells in human brain with cerebral infarction

Appearance of tau epitopes in ischemic foci was investigated immunohistoche mically on a series of autopsied human brains using a panel of anti-tau ant ibodies. While neurons were immunopositive for Alz-50, microglia and oligod endroglia around ischemic foci abundantly contained tau-2 immunoreactivity. Some astrocytes contained tau-2 immunoreactive granules in their cytoplasm . This difference suggests that neurons and glia react differently to an is chemic insult by exhibiting different tau epitopes. Immunohistochemical vis ualization tau-2 epitope represents its conformational change, as was repor ted with neurofibrillary tangles of Alzheimer type. Lack of argyrophilia in any of these tau-immunoreactive cells distinguishes them from tau-immunore active structures seen in various neurodegenerative disorders. (C) 2000 Els evier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.