Cullen K M
Neuroscience Unit, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Neuroreport. 1997 May 27;8(8):1961-6. doi: 10.1097/00001756-199705260-00033.
The association of astrocytes with plaques is a well-established feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and has generally been interpreted as a secondary reaction to amyloid deposition or neuronal degeneration. Astrocytes in brain tissue from six non-demented controls and six patients with AD were investigated using enhanced immunohistochemistry for glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) in serial sections from cortex, basal forebrain, amygdala, putamen and diencephalon. Astrocytes colocalized with all diffuse and non-diffuse plaques in AD and control brain tissue. All plaque-associated astrocytes contacted microvessels, and despite having greater numbers of hypertrophic and fine calibre processes, the cells maintained the perivascular arrangement characteristic of control brain tissue. These observations suggest that plaques form at the site of microvascular aberrations followed by reactive and degenerative changes in perivascular astrocytes.
星形胶质细胞与斑块的关联是阿尔茨海默病（AD）的一个公认特征，通常被解释为对淀粉样蛋白沉积或神经元变性的继发反应。使用增强免疫组织化学方法，对来自六个非痴呆对照和六个AD患者的脑组织中的星形胶质细胞进行研究，采用连续切片，对皮质、基底前脑、杏仁核、壳核和间脑进行胶质纤维酸性蛋白（GFAP）检测。在AD和对照脑组织中，星形胶质细胞与所有弥漫性和非弥漫性斑块共定位。所有与斑块相关的星形胶质细胞都与微血管接触，尽管这些细胞有更多肥大和细口径的突起，但它们仍保持着对照脑组织的血管周围排列特征。这些观察结果表明，斑块在微血管畸变部位形成，随后血管周围星形胶质细胞发生反应性和退行性变化。
