Article

Silver stains distinguish tau-positive structures in corticobasal degeneration/progressive supranuclear palsy and in Alzheimer's disease--comparison between Gallyas and Campbell-Switzer methods.

Department of Neuropathology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience, 2-6 Musashi-dai, Fuchu, 183-8526, Tokyo, Japan.
Acta Neuropathologica (impact factor: 9.32). 04/2005; 109(3):299-305. DOI:10.1007/s00401-004-0947-7 pp.299-305
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Possible differences in silver-staining profiles and their relation to tau-like immunoreactivity were investigated on cortical sections from corticobasal degeneration (CBD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), Down's syndrome (DS) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Pairs of mirror sections were double-fluorolabeled with an anti-PHF tau (AT8) antibody and thiazin red (TR), a fluorochrome that labels fibrillary structures such as neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Subsequently, one of the pair was stained with Gallyas method (GAL), and the other with Campbell-Switzer method (CS). Identification of the same structure on the corresponding microscopic fields enabled a comparison of four different profiles of each structure: AT8 immunoreactivity, and affinity to TR, GAL and CS. NFTs of DS/AD, containing three- and four-repeat tau, were positive for TR, GAL and CS. AT8-immunoreactive structures of CBD/PSP, containing mainly four-repeat tau, were positive for GAL, but negative for CS and TR. This discrepancy is explainable if the argyrophilia with GAL is related to deposits containing four-repeat tau, while that with CS is linked to those containing three-repeat tau. The lack of CS labeling may also be related to poor TR staining, possibly representing scarcity of fibrillary structure in CBD/PSP. The absence of CS staining is characteristic of tau-positive structures of CBD/PSP, which is readily distinguishable from NFTs of DS/AD, hence is of potential pathological and diagnostic relevance.

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Keywords

Alzheimer's disease
 
anti-PHF tau
 
AT8-immunoreactive structures
 
CBD/PSP
 
containing three-repeat tau
 
corresponding microscopic fields
 
corticobasal degeneration
 
CS staining
 
diagnostic relevance
 
different profiles
 
DS/AD
 
fibrillary structure
 
four-repeat tau
 
labels fibrillary structures
 
poor TR staining
 
potential pathological
 
progressive supranuclear palsy
 
silver-staining profiles
 
tau-positive structures
 
thiazin red
 

Toshiki Uchihara