Filament heterogeneity within the dystrophic neurites of senile plaques suggests blockage of fast axonal transport in Alzheimer's disease.

In this study, the direct comparison of biopsy and autopsy tissue by morphological and immunocytochemical techniques, respectively, was used to document cytoskeletal changes of dystrophic neurites (DN) of senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease. This dual approach demonstrated several unreported abnormalities which, together with analogous findings in several experimental models, suggest that DN are associated with deficiencies in fast axonal transport and replacement of the cytoskeleton by an array of related abnormal filaments.