BACKGROUND: AD is characterized by
cerebral deposition of beta -
amyloid plaques with
amyloid beta - peptide (Abeta) 42
as the major peptide constituent, along with neurofibrillary tangles and neuronal loss.
Cerebral accumulation of
amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) leads to neurodegeneration in the Alzheimer brain, which causes progressive cognitive dysfunction such
as memory loss and language problems.
Twenty - two sections of paraffin - embedded tissue were stained for Luxol fast blue, hematoxylin and eosin, Bielschowsky silver, phosphorylated tau (ptau)(AT8), α - synuclein,
amyloid - β, and phosphorylated transactive response DNA binding protein 43 kDa (pTDP - 43) using methods described previously.16 In some cases, large coronal slabs of the
cerebral hemispheres were also cut at 50 μm on a sledge microtome and stained
as free - floating sections using AT8 or CP - 13.16,17