AN AUTOPSY CASE WITH CONSPICUOUS HISTOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN ASTROCYTES

概要

論文の詳細を見る
A female patient aged 66 years began to show involuntary movement of head at about the age of 40, which aggravated gradually. Impairment of memory and pururitic skin disease appeared since about 60 years. She was admitted to a hospital at the age of 62 under the diagnoses of cerebral arteriosclerosis, hypertension and psoriasis vulgaris. She died from cerebral hemerrhacre 4 years after the admission. Histopathological examination of the brain revealed, in addition to the presence of hemorrhagic foci and hyaline degeneration of arterioles, progressive change of astroglial cells in all over the cerebral cortex as the most cardinal findings : i. e. appearance of Alzheimer type 1 glia, gemistcytic glia, gliarasis and dark stained hypertrophic Bergmann cells. Eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies are found in astroglia and Bergmann cells irrespective of their morphological changes, and occasionally also in nuclei of nerve cells and ventricular ependymal cells. The main constituent of the inclusion bodies was found to be protein in nature and showed argyrophilia. Electron microscopy of the inclusion bodies revealed bundles of fine filaments (60-100Å). No remarkable findings were observed in other visceral organs. The pathogenesis of the disease process remains obscure.