Laminar spongiosis of the dentate gyrus : a sign of disconnection, present in cases of severe Alzheimer's disease

An extensive laminar spongiosis was found in the outer part of the dentate gyrus in an 84-year-old patient. An old cavitary infarct in the parahippocampal gyrus disconnected the dentate gyrus from the entorhinal area. This finding prompted us to seek laminar spongiosis in Alzheimer's disease, w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta neuropathologica 1998-04, Vol.95 (4), p.413-420
Main Authors: DUYCKAERTS, C, COLLE, M.-A, SEILHEAN, D, HAUW, J.-J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Alzheimer Disease - pathology
Alzheimer's disease
Amyloid
Biological and medical sciences
Blood Vessels - pathology
Cortex (entorhinal)
Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases
Denervation
Dentate gyrus
Dentate Gyrus - blood supply
Dentate Gyrus - pathology
Female
Hippocampus - blood supply
Hippocampus - pathology
Humans
Medical sciences
Neurodegenerative diseases
Neurofibrillary Tangles - pathology
Neurology
Parahippocampal gyrus
Plaque, Amyloid - pathology
Regional Blood Flow - physiology
Senile plaques
Tau protein
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Summary:An extensive laminar spongiosis was found in the outer part of the dentate gyrus in an 84-year-old patient. An old cavitary infarct in the parahippocampal gyrus disconnected the dentate gyrus from the entorhinal area. This finding prompted us to seek laminar spongiosis in Alzheimer's disease, where the neuronal loss in the entorhinal cortex might be severe. The dentate gyrus was systematically examined in a series of prospectively assessed cases either intellectually normal or affected by mental impairment of graded severity. Laminar spongiosis was present in the most severely affected patients. The neuritic crown of the senile plaques seen in the laminar band of spongiosis contained only a few tau- and Bodian-positive fibers, a sign that was taken as evidence of "plaque denervation". By contrast, deposits of Abeta peptide remained abundant but lacked a dense core. These data suggest that dendritic and axonal processes are intermingled in the senile plaque and that the amyloid core is at least partially dependent on the presence of the axonal component.
ISSN:0001-6322
1432-0533
DOI:10.1007/s004010050818