A workshop on the diagnostic criteria of adult neuronal ceroid-lipofus
cinosis (ANCL) or Kufs' disease represented an unique opportunity to m
ake a critical review of the ANCL material from the files of the Born-
Bunge Foundation. Our review included the clinical data when available
, the light microscopic sections and the electron micrographs. When th
e postmortem material had not been immediately fixed in glutaraldehyde
, we sampled formalin-fixed material post-fixed it and used classical
electron microscopic techniques to better define the ultrastructure of
the stored products. Only one family fulfilled the criteria for ANCL.
Neurons and vascular smooth muscle cells contained membrane-bound inc
lusions with curvilinear, rectilinear and fingerprint profiles.