Immunocytochemistry of neurofibrillary tangles in dementia pugilistica and Alzheimer's disease: evidence for common genesis.

A battery of antisera that specifically stained the tangles of Alzheimer's disease also stained the tangles in all of 8 cases of dementia pugilistica (punch-drunk syndrome). Since the paired helical filament antigens found in Alzheimer type neurofibrillary degeneration are present in the tangles of dementia pugilistica the pathogenesis of tangle formation in these conditions is likely to be the same; thus head injury may be a predisposing factor or environmental trigger for Alzheimer's disease.