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Neurofibrillary pathology in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP)

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Progressive Supranuclear Palsy: Diagnosis, Pathology, and Therapy

Part of the book series: Journal of Neural Transmission. Supplementa ((NEURAL SUPPL,volume 42))

Summary

In progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), globose neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) are found in the subcortical areas and occasionally in the central cortex and spinal cord. An inverse relationship was found between the degree of neuronal loss and the presence of NFT.

It has been postulated that NFT comes first and atrophy as a secondary event. Others authors have reported that the neurologic findings are associated with the presence of carcinomas and the CNS changes can be assessed as a paraneoplastic effect. In PSP the neuritic changes are mainly located in the basal ganglia and composed of straight filaments and tubules, different from the paired helical filaments found in the Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting that they are formed of a new type of fibrous protein. In addition immunohistochemistry preparations using antibodies against tau and ubiquitin reveal an antigenic profile similar to early NFT in dementia of Alzheimer’s type. These findings support the hypothesis that these changes may reflect different types of non-specific cytoskeletal disorganization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Neuropathology, Free University of Berlin, Hindenburgdamm 30, D-12200, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany

    Dr. J. Cervós-Navarro & K. Schumacher

Authors
  1. Dr. J. Cervós-Navarro
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  2. K. Schumacher
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neurology Service, Hospital Clinic, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Spain

    E. Tolosa

  2. Neurology Service, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    R. Duvoisin

  3. Neurological Tissue Bank, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Spain

    F. F. Cruz-Sánchez

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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Wien

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Cervós-Navarro, J., Schumacher, K. (1994). Neurofibrillary pathology in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). In: Tolosa, E., Duvoisin, R., Cruz-Sánchez, F.F. (eds) Progressive Supranuclear Palsy: Diagnosis, Pathology, and Therapy. Journal of Neural Transmission. Supplementa, vol 42. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-6641-3_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-6641-3_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Vienna

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-211-82541-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-7091-6641-3

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