CADASIL or CADVaSIL?

In the present study, morphological examination of patients from two unrelated Polish families with CADASIL was performed. Using light microscopy, there were evident changes characteristic to the disease. On electron microscopy, deposits of granular osmiophillic material (GOM) were found not only in cerebral arteries and veins but also in cerebral capillaries and vessels of the internal organs. These findings indicate that pathological process in CADASIL is generalized and involves also small vessels devoid of smooth muscle cells. Therefore, we propose to consider a replacement for the name CADASIL that better reflects the morphological picture of the disease like, for example, cerebral autosomal dominant vasculopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADVaSIL) or, to preserve the commonly known acronym, cerebral autosomal dominant angiopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy.     

Laminar distribution of neuritic plaques in normal aging,Alzheimer's disease and Down's syndrome

Summary Quantitative studies of neuritic (senile) plaques in six cortical layers were carried out in brains from people with confirmed clinical and neuropathological diagnosis of senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT) and Down's syndrome (DS). The same studies were performed on brains of normal old-aged people. In Alzheimer disease (AD) and DS cases the highest numbers of neuritic plaques (NP) were observed in temporal lobe layers III and II and occipital lobe layers III, IV and II. In normal old-aged people the highest numbers of NP were found in temporal lobe III and V and in occipital lobe IV, III, and V layer. The plaque numbers in both temporal and occipital cortices of AD and DS were significantly higher than that of normal old-aged people but there was no difference between AD and DS.Supported in part by Grant Nos. AGO-4220 and HD22634 from the National Institutes of Health     

Extensive mixed vascular malformation clinically imitating multiple sclerosis--case report

Vascular malformations usually develop as a result of influence of teratogenic factor(s) acting in the defined embryonic/fetal period. However, in the case examined by us, various types of vascular malformations formed in different periods of the ontogenic development were found. They were seen in all parts of the central nervous system and clinically mimicked multiple sclerosis. On the background of generalized ischemic lesions of the CNS, certain kinds of vascular malformations were seen: cavernous or fetallike vessels within meninges, superficially located capillary angioma penetrating into the brain and spinal cord white matter, and arterio-venous pathological conglomerates forming meningeal angiomatosis. In pathological vessels, immunocytochemical assessment of vascular endothelium with antibodies against antigens CD31, CD34, von Willebrand factor and lectin Ulex europaeus was normal but examination of the vascular basal membrane compounds revealed poor immunoreactivity to laminin and fibronectin. There were no disturbances in expression of angiopoietin, platelet-derived growth factor, transforming growth factor beta and vascular endothelial growth factor receptors Tie-1/2, PDGFR-alpha/beta, endoglin and Flk-1, respectively. The presence of various types of pathological vessels originating from different ontogenic periods indicates remittent or prolonged influence of teratogenic factor(s) in all periods of fetal vessel development.     

Na+/K+-ATPase activity and GABA uptake in astroglial cell-enriched fractions and synaptosomes derived from rats in the early stage of experimental hepatogenic encephalopathy

Na+/K+-ATPase activity and GABA uptake were measured in the bulk isolated astrocytes and synaptosomes from rats in which an early, metabolic phase of hepatogenic encephalopathy (HE) was induced by the treatment with thioacetamide (TAA). Both the enzyme activity and the amino acid neurotransmitter uptake were increased above control in the astroglial fraction but remained unaffected in synaptosomes. The results lend support to the earlier observations that the astrocytes are the primary target cells in HE. Furthermore, they may be interpreted as indicating that the early astroglial reaction to HE comprises stimulation of the astrocytes' function, especially concerning clearance of K+ ions and neurotransmitters from the extracellular space of CNS.     

Synaptosomal Uptake of Alpha-Ketoglutarate and Glutamine in Thioacetamide-Induced Hepatic Encephalopathy in Rats

The kinetics of uptake of two astroglia-derived glutamate (GLU) precursors, α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) and glutamine (GLN) were determined in synaptosomes derived from rats with acute hepatic encephalopathy (HE) induced with a hepatotoxin, thioacetamide (TAA). TAA treatment increased by 33% Vmax for high affinity, low capacity α-KG uptake, without influencing its Km. The increase of the uptake capacity for α-KG may represent a response of the GLUergic nerve terminals to the decreased cerebral α-KG content, which during HE is associated with depressed activity of pyruvate carboxylase, an enzyme that replenishes α-KG in astrocytes. The result is thus consistent with the notion that HE affects the astroglial control of GLUergic neurotransmission. The Km and Vmax for the low affinity, high capacity GLN uptake was not affected by TAA treatment.