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Evaluation of Neuropathological Stages Based on Quantification of Senile Changes in Non‐Demented Elderly Individuals and Alzheimer‐Type Dementia
Author(s) -
Iseki Eizo,
Odawara Toshinari,
Kosaka Kenji,
Haga Chie,
Ikeda Kenji
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
neuropathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.701
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1440-1789
pISSN - 0919-6544
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1789.1993.tb00225.x
Subject(s) - dementia , senile plaques , incidence (geometry) , medicine , alzheimer's disease , pathology , disease , physics , optics
Amyloid deposits (AmD) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) were quantitatively examined in methenamine‐silver stained hemisphere sections from 98 non‐demented elderly individuals and 30 patients with Alzheimer‐type dementia (ATD). Of the non‐demented cases, 35 (35.7%) had some AmD, and 72 (73.5%) had some NFT, whereas all the ATD cases had both AmD and NFT. AmD‐and NFT‐positive cases were classified into developmental stages, based on the distribution and incidence of each of these senile changes (AmD: A1, A2, B1, B2, C′ and C; NFT: Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, III, and IV). When the AmD‐positive cases were divided into stages A‐B and stages C′‐C and the NFT‐positive cases into stages I‐III and stage IV, all the non‐demented individuals were found to belong to NFT stages I‐III and all the ATD cases to AmD stages C′‐C. This study provides evidence that an approximate dividing line can be drawn between non‐demented individuals and ATD patients by using quantitative neuropathological criteria, and that the distinction between the two groups can usually be made on the basis of the difference in the incidence of AmD in the precentral motor area and the incidence of NFT in the temporal isocortex.