Neuropathology and immunohistochemistry of the brain-stem in neonates with congenital hydrocephalus: Comparative studies between aqueductal stenosis and Arnold-Chiari malformation |
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| Authors: | MICHIO FUKUMIZU SACHIO TAKASHIMA LAURENCE E BECKER |
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| Institution: | Division of Mental Retardation and Birth Defect Research, National Institute of Neuroscience and Division of Child Neurology, National Center Hospital for Mental, Nervous and Muscular Disorders and National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan and Department of Pathology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada |
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| Abstract: | Neuropathological and immunohistochemical studies were done on the brain-stem of neonates who had congenital hydrocephalus with aqueductal stenosis or Arnold-Chiari malformation (ACM). The infants with aqueductal stenosis showed heterogeneity in their clinicopathological findings while the infants with ACM were relatively similar in neuropathological findings. There were prominent astrogliosis, decreased immunoreactivity with antisera to tyrosine hydroxylase and myelin basic protein in the periaqueductal area, and an increased reactivity with antiserum to substance P in the tegmentum of most patients with aqueductal stenosis and other malformations. In ACM, there was little gliosis in the tegmentum and periaqueductal area and minimal immunoreactivity of tyrosine hydroxylase, myelin basic protein and substance P. In both groups of cases, the cells in the periaqueductal region differ in neurotransmitter/neuromodulator immunoreactivity and degree of myelination reflecting a difference possibly in their maldevelopment. |
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| Keywords: | aqueductal stenosis Arnold-Chiari malformation hydrocephalus substance P tyrosine-hydroxylase |
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