Distribution of Alzheimer's neurofibrillary tangles in the basal ganglia and brain stem of progressive supranuclear palsy and Alzheimer's disease.

The authors studied the distribution of neurofibrillary tangles in the basal ganglia and brain stem of progressive supranuclear palsy and Alzheimer's disease, with the result that almost no similarity in the distribution and frequency of neurofibrillary tangles exists between both diseases. In two cases with progressive supranuclear palsy, neurofibrillary tangles were found most numerously in the subthalamic nucleus. Next in order came the globus pallidus, reticular formation of midbrain, pons and medulla oblongata, pontine nuclei, locus coeruleus, red nucleus, substantia nigra, periaqueductal grey matter and olivary nuclei. Neurofibrillary tangles were rare in the thalamus. In two cases with Alzheimer's disease, neurofibrillary tangles were found most numerously in the nucleus mamilloinfundibularis, nucleus basilaris, nucleus dorsalis raphe, nucleus centralis superior, and next in order came the thalamus. They were found scarcely in the lenticular nuclei and reticular formation of the pons. In both diseases, almost no neurofibrillary tangles were found in the nucleus supraopticus, nucleus paraventricularis, nuclei tuberales and nuclei corporis mamillare.