[Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy: morphologic possibilities of diagnostic classification methods and in situ hybridization]. / Progresivní multifokální leukoencefalopatie (PML): Morfologické moznosti diagnostiky klasickými metodami a in situ hybridizací.

Progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy is caused by infection with JC virus. The disease affects patients with immunodeficiencies, hematologic diseases, and patients treated with radiotherapy. The disease is characterised by foci of demyelinisation with atypical astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Oligodendrocytes contain typical intranuclear inclusions. Progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy and its verification is presented in three cases. Two patients died of progression of a malignant neoplasm and the leucoencephalopathy was a complication of the malignancy. The third case was a biopsy specimen taken from the brain of a patient who received a renal transplant. The material of all patients was analysed by light and electron microscopy, and in situ hybridisation with a probe specific for JC virus. In situ hybridisation proved to be the most specific and a simple method to demonstrate the infection in all cases. It is useful in instances in which the histologically detectable lesion is not characteristic, and in cells in which the conventional histologic methods fail to reveal the intranuclear inclusions of JC virus.

Effects of aging and dementia on the levels of thiobarbituric-acid-reactive products stimulated by L-glutamic acid in human autopsy and biopsy brain tissue.

Basal and stimulated (by L-glutamic acid, GA) levels of thiobarbituric-acid-reactive products were estimated in the brain tissue (hippocampus, cortex and cerebellum) from autopsy samples of people with Alzheimer disease (AD), multi-infarct dementia (MID) and from nondemented control patients. The experiment was also performed on biopsy brain tissue (cortex) of nondemented controls. The biopsy brain tissue influenced by normal aging in vivo showed a limited susceptibility to undergo lipid peroxidation stimulated by GA in vitro in comparison with the younger tissue. A significant decrease in the ratio of stimulated to basal levels was found in the cerebellum of MID patients in comparison with nondemented controls and AD patients.

(3H)hemicholinium-3 binding sites in postmortem brains of human patients with Alzheimer's disease and multi-infarct dementia.

(3H)Hemicholinium-3 ((3H)HCh-3), a potent, selective, and competitive inhibitor of the high-affinity choline uptake process was used for the detection of high-affinity choline carriers in the hippocampus (gyrus parahippocampalis), neocortex (gyrus frontalis medius), and cerebellum (lobulus semilunaris inferior) in autopsy samples of people with Alzheimer's disease, multi-infarct dementia and from other psychiatric and nonpsychiatric patients. The effect of postmortem delay was eliminated by means of the cerebellum used as an individual standard. The density of (3H)HCh-3 binding sites was decreased in the hippocampus and neocortex from individuals with multi-infarct dementia and unchanged in the brain tissue from people with Alzheimer's disease in comparison with control patients. No changes in dissociation constants were found. In Alzheimer's disease, high-affinity choline transport appears to be reduced by a dysfunction of cholinergic neuronal membrane rather than by a significant decrease in the number of presynaptic cholinergic nerve terminals. Results provide evidence of a decrease in the number of nerve endings in people with multi-infarct dementia and suggest different vulnerability of particular brain areas to vascular disorders.

Effect of postmortem storage on the [3H]hemicholinium-3 binding site in the rat brain. Preliminary study for investigations of human patients with Alzheimer's disease.

The effect of postmortem storage at room temperature (24-26 degrees C, 0-4 h) and cold-room temperature (4 degrees C, (0-24 h) on the [(3)H]hemicholinium-3 binding sites in the brain hippocampus, cortex and cerebellum of 3-month-old Wistar rats was studied. A slow decrease in the density of the binding sites was observed at both temperatures, which was best fit by a linear model common for all three brain regions. No systematic alterations of the affinity of the binding sites for hemicholinium-3 were found. The values obtained from experiments with animals were compared with the values measured in the frontal cortex of old men. Approaches to the evaluation of data obtained from postmortem samples of human brain tissue of patients with Alzheimer's disease are proposed.