Nishimura M, Tomimoto H, Suenaga T, Namba Y, Ikeda K, Akiguchi I, Kimura J
Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan.
Am J Pathol. 1995 May;146(5):1052-8.
Neurofibrillary tangle is a major cytoskeletal pathology in Alzheimer's disease brains, and has been considered to develop exclusively in neuronal cells. We examined brains with Alzheimer's disease and observed argyrophilic fibrillary tangles not only in cortical neurons but also in subcortical glial cells in the frontal and temporal white matter. The tangles in glial cells were immunolabeled by antibodies against tau and ubiquitin, and double immunocytochemistry analyzed by confocal laser scanning microscopy demonstrated that the cytoplasms of tangle-bearing glia were labeled by antibodies against transferrin and 2'3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphohydrolase. Ultrastructurally, they were made up of bundles of straight filaments 16 nm in diameter and constricted filaments. These results indicate that fibrillary tangles resembling neurofibrillary tangles may develop in oligodendrocytes in brains with Alzheimer's disease and are distinguishable from glial cytoplasmic inclusions observed in multiple system atrophy brains. We referred to them as glial fibrillary tangles. Glial fibrillary tangles commonly occurred in this disease condition, and glial cells might be involved under the pathological processes similar to neuronal cells.
神经原纤维缠结是阿尔茨海默病大脑中的一种主要细胞骨架病变，一直被认为仅在神经元细胞中形成。我们检查了阿尔茨海默病患者的大脑，发现嗜银纤维缠结不仅存在于皮质神经元中，还存在于额叶和颞叶白质的皮质下胶质细胞中。胶质细胞中的缠结被抗tau蛋白和泛素的抗体免疫标记，通过共聚焦激光扫描显微镜进行的双重免疫细胞化学分析表明，带有缠结的胶质细胞的细胞质被抗转铁蛋白和2'3'-环核苷酸3'-磷酸水解酶的抗体标记。在超微结构上，它们由直径为16 nm的直丝束和收缩丝组成。这些结果表明，在阿尔茨海默病患者的大脑中，类似于神经原纤维缠结的纤维缠结可能在少突胶质细胞中形成，并且与多系统萎缩大脑中观察到的胶质细胞质内含物不同。我们将它们称为胶质纤维缠结。胶质纤维缠结在这种疾病状态中普遍存在，并且胶质细胞可能在类似于神经元细胞的病理过程中受到影响。
