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Neurofibrillary tangles, granulovacuolar degeneration, and neuron loss in down syndrome: Quantitative comparison with alzheimer dementia
Author(s) -
Ball M. J.,
Nuttall K.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.410070512
Subject(s) - hippocampus , dementia , hippocampal formation , senile plaques , pathology , neurofibrillary tangle , alzheimer's disease , neuroscience , medicine , psychology , disease
The degree of neurofibrillary tangle formation, granulovacuolar degeneration, and nerve cell loss was quantified in serial sections of the hippocampal formation from the brains of 5 adults dying with Down syndrom (mongolism). These morphometric results were compared with values obtained from a series of mentally normal elderly patients reported previously. Granulovacuolar change appeared to be related as much to patient age as to the existence of mongolism. By contrast, the number of Alzheimer neurofibrillary tangles and loss of pyramidal neurons from the hippocampus exceeded levels found in considerably older subjects and fell into the same range of severity as was noted in 8 patients with Alzheimer dementia. The neuron population in the hippocampus of Down syndrome patients may be only half the expected normal number for their decade. These quantitative similarities stimulate the search for a common pathogenetic mechanism underlying cerebral changes in mongolism and senile dementia of the Alzheimer type.