Immunocytochemical Detection of Anti-Hippocampal Antibodies in Alzheimer's Disease and Normal Cerebrospinal Fluid

Author: Loeffler David A.   Juneau Paul L.   Nguyen Hanh-Uyen   Najman Dina   Pomara Nunzio   LeWitt Peter A.  

Publisher: Springer Publishing Company

ISSN: 0364-3190

Source: Neurochemical Research, Vol.22, Iss.2, 1997-02, pp. : 209-214

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Abstract

Immunocytochemical staining was performed to investigate the presence of anti-hippocampal antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) (n = 19), aged normal controls (n = 9), and young normal controls (n = 10). Marked staining of neurons in the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus and in pyramidal neurons in CA1-3 of the rat hippocampus was observed in 5 AD CSF samples (26%), 1 aged control sample (11%), and 1 young control sample (10%). These differences were not statistically significant. One of the immunoreactive AD CSF specimens also contained high concentrations of C5b-9, the membrane attack complex. The infrequent occurrence of anti-hippocampal antibodies in AD CSF, and the detection of similar immunoreactivity in control CSF specimens, suggest that these antibodies are unlikely to play a role in the neurodegenerative process in most individuals with AD. However, elevated C5b-9 concentration in an AD CSF specimen with marked immunoreactivity to hippocampal neurons suggests the possibility that anti-neuronal antibodies may contribute to complement activation in some AD patients.