Bilateral symmetry of morphologic lesions in Alzheimer's disease
J. Moossy, G. S. Zubenko, A. J. Martinez and G. R. Rao
Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburg School of Medicine, PA 15261.
We studied 16 brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease for left-right
differences, or similarities, in the density of senile plaques (SPs) or
neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Counts were made of SPs and NFTs on the
left and right side of five different brain areas, which included middle
frontal, superior temporal, the prosubiculum of the hippocampus (HPR), the
entorhinal cortex of the hippocampus (HEN), and the basal nucleus of
Meynert. The density of SPs was bilaterally symmetrical in all regions
except the basal nucleus of Meynert in which technical problems may have
occurred in sampling. In contrast to SPs, the density of NFTs was
bilaterally symmetrical in both neocortical regions (middle frontal,
superior temporal), but not in either hippocampal region (HPR, HEN). The
absence of bilateral symmetry for the density of NFTs in the hippocampus,
where the density of SPs was highly symmetrical, suggests that there may be
a different pathogenesis for these lesions in Alzheimer's disease. The lack
of a significant correlation between SP and NFT density within four of five
regions, including HPR and HEN, also supports this suggestion.
