Distribution of fibroblast growth factor receptor-1 (FGFR-1) and FGFR-3 in the hippocampus of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

To learn about the localization of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) ligands in normal and pathologic brains, fibroblast growth factor receptor-1 (FGFR-1; Flg) and FGFR-3 immunoreactivities were examined in the hippocampus of patients with Alzheimer's disease and age-matched controls. Flg immunoreactivity was found in practically all neurons of the hippocampus and dentate gyrus in control and Alzheimer's disease cases. In patients with Alzheimer's disease, Flg immunoreactivity was present in tangle-bearing and non-tangle-bearing neurons, as well as in neurons with granulovacuolar degeneration, but not in ghost tangles. Aberrant neurites of senile plaques were negative. FGFR-3 immunoreactivity was found in reactive glial cells, most of them astrocytes, including those in the vicinity of senile plaques.