Subcortical neurodegeneration in chorea: Similarities and differences between chorea-acanthocytosis and Huntington's disease.

INTRODUCTION: Chorea-acanthocytosis (ChAc) and Huntington's disease (HD) are neurodegenerative conditions that share clinical and neuropathological features, despite their distinct genetic etiologies. METHODS: In order to compare these neuropathologies, serial gallocyanin-stained brain sections from three subjects with ChAc were analyzed and compared with our previous studies of eight HD cases, in addition to three hemispheres from two male controls. RESULTS: Astrogliosis was much greater in the ChAc striatum, as compared to that found in HD, with dramatic increase in total striatal glia numbers and the number of glia per striatal neuron. Striatal astrocytes are most likely derived from the striatal subependymal layer in ChAc, which showed massive proliferation. The thalamic centromedian-parafascicular complex is reciprocally connected to the striatum and is more heavily affected in HD than in ChAc. CONCLUSION: The distinct patterns of selective vulnerability and gliosis observed in HD and ChAc challenge simplistic views on the pathogenesis of these two diseases with rather similar clinical signs. The particular roles played by astroglia in ChAc and in HD clearly need to be elucidated in more detail.

Involvement of the cerebellum in Parkinson disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.

Brains from patients with Parkinson disease or dementia with Lewy bodies show aggregation of alpha-synuclein in precerebellar brainstem structures. Furthermore, patients exhibit resting tremor, unstable gait, and impaired balance, which may be associated with cerebellar dysfunction. Therefore, we screened the cerebella of 12 patients with alpha-synucleinopathies for neuropathological changes. Cerebellar nuclei and neighboring white matter displayed numerous aggregates, whereas lobules were mildly affected. Cerebellar aggregation pathology may suggest a prionlike spread originating from affected precerebellar structures, and the high homogeneity between patients with dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson disease shows that both diseases likely belong to the same neuropathological spectrum. Ann Neurol 2017;81:898-903.

Alzheimer's Disease: Characterization of the Brain Sites of the Initial Tau Cytoskeletal Pathology Will Improve the Success of Novel Immunological Anti-Tau Treatment Approaches.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) represents the most frequent neurodegenerative disease of the human brain worldwide. Currently practiced treatment strategies for AD only include some less effective symptomatic therapeutic interventions, which unable to counteract the disease course of AD. New therapeutic attempts aimed to prevent, reduce, or remove the extracellular depositions of the amyloid-ß protein did not elicit beneficial effects on cognitive deficits or functional decline of AD. In view of the failure of these amyloid-ß-based therapeutic trials and the close correlation between the brain pathology of the cytoskeletal tau protein and clinical AD symptoms, therapeutic attention has since shifted to the tau cytoskeletal protein as a novel drug target. The abnormal hyperphosphorylation and intraneuronal aggregation of this protein are early events in the evolution of the AD-related neurofibrillary pathology, and the brain spread of the AD-related tau aggregation pathology may possibly follow a corruptive protein templating and seeding-like mechanism according to the prion hypothesis. Accordingly, immunotherapeutic targeting of the tau aggregation pathology during the very early pre-tangle phase is currently considered to represent an effective and promising therapeutic approach for AD. Recent studies have shown that the initial immunoreactive tau aggregation pathology already prevails in several subcortical regions in the absence of any cytoskeletal changes in the cerebral cortex. Thus, it may be hypothesized that the subcortical brain regions represent the "port of entry" for the pathogenetic agent from which the disease ascends anterogradely as an "interconnectivity pathology".

Longitudinal changes of cortical microstructure in Parkinson's disease assessed with T1 relaxometry.

BACKGROUND: Histological evidence suggests that pathology in Parkinson's disease (PD) goes beyond nigrostriatal degeneration and also affects the cerebral cortex. Quantitative MRI (qMRI) techniques allow the assessment of changes in brain tissue composition. However, the development and pattern of disease-related cortical changes have not yet been demonstrated in PD with qMRI methods. The aim of this study was to investigate longitudinal cortical microstructural changes in PD with quantitative T1 relaxometry. METHODS: 13 patients with mild to moderate PD and 20 matched healthy subjects underwent high resolution T1 mapping at two time points with an interval of 6.4 years (healthy subjects: 6.5 years). Data from two healthy subjects had to be excluded due to MRI artifacts. Surface-based analysis of cortical T1 values was performed with the FreeSurfer toolbox. RESULTS: In PD patients, a widespread decrease of cortical T1 was detected during follow-up which affected large parts of the temporo-parietal and occipital cortices and also frontal areas. In contrast, age-related T1 decrease in the healthy control group was much less pronounced and only found in lateral frontal, parietal and temporal areas. Average cortical T1 values did not differ between the groups at baseline (p = 0.17), but were reduced in patients at follow-up (p = 0.0004). Annualized relative changes of cortical T1 were higher in patients vs. healthy subjects (patients: - 0.72 ± 0.64%/year; healthy subjects: - 0.17 ± 0.41%/year, p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with PD, the development of widespread changes in cortical microstructure was observed as reflected by a reduction of cortical T1. The pattern of T1 decrease in PD patients exceeded the normal T1 decrease as found in physiological aging and showed considerable overlap with the pattern of cortical thinning demonstrated in previous PD studies. Therefore, cortical T1 might be a promising additional imaging marker for future longitudinal PD studies. The biological mechanisms underlying cortical T1 reductions remain to be further elucidated.

Blood RNA biomarkers in prodromal PARK4 and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder show role of complexin 1 loss for risk of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a frequent neurodegenerative process in old age. Accumulation and aggregation of the lipid-binding SNARE complex component α-synuclein (SNCA) underlies this vulnerability and defines stages of disease progression. Determinants of SNCA levels and mechanisms of SNCA neurotoxicity have been intensely investigated. In view of the physiological roles of SNCA in blood to modulate vesicle release, we studied blood samples from a new large pedigree with SNCA gene duplication (PARK4 mutation) to identify effects of SNCA gain of function as potential disease biomarkers. Downregulation of complexin 1 (CPLX1) mRNA was correlated with genotype, but the expression of other Parkinson's disease genes was not. In global RNA-seq profiling of blood from presymptomatic PARK4 indviduals, bioinformatics detected significant upregulations for platelet activation, hemostasis, lipoproteins, endocytosis, lysosome, cytokine, Toll-like receptor signaling and extracellular pathways. In PARK4 platelets, stimulus-triggered degranulation was impaired. Strong SPP1, GZMH and PLTP mRNA upregulations were validated in PARK4. When analysing individuals with rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, the most specific known prodromal stage of general PD, only blood CPLX1 levels were altered. Validation experiments confirmed an inverse mutual regulation of SNCA and CPLX1 mRNA levels. In the 3'-UTR of the CPLX1 gene we identified a single nucleotide polymorphism that is significantly associated with PD risk. In summary, our data define CPLX1 as a PD risk factor and provide functional insights into the role and regulation of blood SNCA levels. The new blood biomarkers of PARK4 in this Turkish family might become useful for PD prediction.

On the distribution of intranuclear and cytoplasmic aggregates in the brainstem of patients with spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 and 3.

The polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases are a group of genetically and clinically heterogeneous neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by the expansion of polyQ sequences in unrelated disease proteins, which form different types of neuronal aggregates. The aim of this study was to characterize the aggregation pathology in the brainstem of spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) and 3 (SCA3) patients. For good recognition of neurodegeneration and rare aggregates, we employed 100 µm PEG embedded brainstem sections, which were immunostained with the 1C2 antibody, targeted at polyQ expansions, or with an antibody against p62, a reliable marker of protein aggregates. Brainstem areas were scored semiquantitatively for neurodegeneration, severity of granular cytoplasmic staining (GCS) and frequency of neuronal nuclear inclusions (NNI). SCA2 and SCA3 tissue exhibited the same aggregate types and similar staining patterns. Several brainstem areas showed statistically significant differences between disease groups, whereby SCA2 showed more severe GCS and SCA3 showed more numerous NNI. We observed a positive correlation between GCS severity and neurodegeneration in SCA2 and SCA3 and an inverse correlation between the frequency of NNI and neurodegeneration in SCA3. Although their respective disease proteins are unrelated, SCA2 and SCA3 showed the same aggregate types. Apparently, the polyQ sequence alone is sufficient as a driver of protein aggregation. This is then modified by protein context and intrinsic properties of neuronal populations. The severity of GCS was the best predictor of neurodegeneration in both disorders, while the inverse correlation of neurodegeneration and NNI in SCA3 tissue implies a protective role of these aggregates.

Evaluation of brain ageing: a quantitative longitudinal MRI study over 7 years.

OBJECTIVES: T1 relaxometry is a promising tool for the assessment of microstructural changes during brain ageing. Previous cross-sectional studies demonstrated increasing T1 values in white and decreasing T1 values in grey matter over the lifetime. However, these findings have not yet been confirmed on the basis of a longitudinal study. In this longitudinal study over 7 years, T1 relaxometry was used to investigate the dynamics of age-related microstructural changes in older healthy subjects. METHODS: T1 mapping was performed in 17 healthy subjects (range 51-77 years) at baseline and after 7 years. Advanced cortical and white matter segmentation was used to determine mean T1 values in the cortex and white matter. RESULTS: The analysis revealed a decrease of mean cortical T1 values over 7 years, the rate of T1 reduction being more prominent in subjects with higher age. T1 decreases were predominantly localized in the lateral frontal, parietal and temporal cortex. In contrast, mean white matter T1 values remained stable. CONCLUSIONS: T1 mapping is shown to be sensitive to age-related microstructural changes in healthy ageing subjects in a longitudinal setting. Data of a cohort in late adulthood and the senescence period demonstrate a decrease of cortical T1 values over 7 years, most likely reflecting decreasing water content and increased iron concentrations. KEY POINTS: • T1 mapping is sensitive to age-related microstructural changes in a longitudinal setting. • T1 decreases were predominantly localized in the lateral frontal, parietal and temporal cortex. • The rate of T1 reduction was more prominent in subjects with higher age. • These changes most likely reflect decreasing cortical water and increasing iron concentrations.

The Brainstem Tau Cytoskeletal Pathology of Alzheimer's Disease: A Brief Historical Overview and Description of its Anatomical Distribution Pattern, Evolutional Features, Pathogenetic and Clinical Relevance.

The human brainstem is involved in the regulation of the sleep/waking cycle and normal sleep architectonics and is crucial for the performance of a variety of somatomotor, vital autonomic, oculomotor, vestibular, auditory, ingestive and somatosensory functions. It harbors the origins of the ascending dopaminergic, cholinergic, noradrenergic, serotonergic systems, as well the home base of the descending serotonergic system. In contrast to the cerebral cortex the affection of the brainstem in Alzheimer's disease (AD) by the neurofibrillary or tau cytoskeletal pathology was recognized only approximately fourty years ago in initial brainstem studies. Detailed pathoanatomical investigations of silver stained or tau immunostained brainstem tissue sections revealed nerve cell loss and prominent ADrelated cytoskeletal changes in the raphe nuclei, locus coeruleus, and in the compact parts of the substantia nigra and pedunculopontine nucleus. An additional conspicuous AD-related cytoskeletal pathology was also detected in the auditory brainstem system of AD patients (i.e. inferior colliculus, superior olive, dorsal cochlear nucleus), in the oculomotor brainstem network (i.e. rostral interstitial nucleus of the medial longitudinal fascicle, Edinger-Westphal nucleus, reticulotegmental nucleus of pons), autonomic system (i.e. central and periaqueductal grays, parabrachial nuclei, gigantocellular reticular nucleus, dorsal motor vagal and solitary nuclei, intermediate reticular zone). The alterations in these brainstem nuclei offered for the first time adequate explanations for a variety of less understood disease symptoms of AD patients: Parkinsonian extrapyramidal motor signs, depression, hallucinations, dysfunctions of the sleep/wake cycle, changes in sleeping patterns, attentional deficits, exaggerated pupil dilatation, autonomic dysfunctions, impairments of horizontal and vertical saccades, dysfunctional smooth pursuits. The very early occurrence of the AD-related cytoskeletal pathology in some of these brainstem nuclei points to a major and strategic role of the brainstem in the induction and brain spread of the AD-related cytoskeletal pathology.

Precortical Phase of Alzheimer's Disease (AD)-Related Tau Cytoskeletal Pathology.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) represents the most frequent progressive neuropsychiatric disorder worldwide leading to dementia. We systematically investigated the presence and extent of the AD-related cytoskeletal pathology in serial thick tissue sections through all subcortical brain nuclei that send efferent projections to the transentorhinal and entorhinal regions in three individuals with Braak and Braak AD stage 0 cortical cytoskeletal pathology and fourteen individuals with Braak and Braak AD stage I cortical cytoskeletal pathology by means of immunostainings with the anti-tau antibody AT8. These investigations revealed consistent AT8 immunoreactive tau cytoskeletal pathology in a subset of these subcortical nuclei in the Braak and Braak AD stage 0 individuals and in all of these subcortical nuclei in the Braak and Braak AD stage I individuals. The widespread affection of the subcortical nuclei in Braak and Braak AD stage I shows that the extent of the early subcortical tau cytoskeletal pathology has been considerably underestimated previously. In addition, our novel findings support the concept that subcortical nuclei become already affected during an early 'pre-cortical' evolutional phase before the first AD-related cytoskeletal changes occur in the mediobasal temporal lobe (i.e. allocortical transentorhinal and entorhinal regions). The very early involved subcortical brain regions may represent the origin of the AD-related tau cytoskeletal pathology, from where the neuronal cytoskeletal pathology takes an ascending course toward the secondarily affected allocortex and spreads transneuronally along anatomical pathways in predictable sequences.

Hierarchical Distribution of the Tau Cytoskeletal Pathology in the Thalamus of Alzheimer's Disease Patients.

In spite of considerable progress in neuropathological research on Alzheimer's disease (AD), knowledge regarding the exact pathoanatomical distribution of the tau cytoskeletal pathology in the thalamus of AD patients in the advanced Braak and Braak AD stages V or VI of the cortical cytoskeletal pathology is still fragmentary. Investigation of serial 100 µm-thick brain tissue sections through the thalamus of clinically diagnosed AD patients with Braak and Braak AD stage V or VI cytoskeletal pathologies immunostained with the anti-tau AT8 antibody, along with the affection of the extraterritorial reticular nucleus of the thalamus, reveals a consistent and severe tau immunoreactive cytoskeletal pathology in the limbic nuclei of the thalamus (e.g., paraventricular, anterodorsal and laterodorsal nuclei, limitans-suprageniculate complex). The thalamic nuclei integrated into the associative networks of the human brain (e.g., ventral anterior and mediodorsal nuclei) are only mildly affected, while its motor precerebellar (ventral lateral nucleus) and sensory nuclei (e.g., lateral and medial geniculate bodies, ventral posterior medial and lateral nuclei, parvocellular part of the ventral posterior medial nucleus) are more or less spared. The highly stereotypical and characteristic thalamic distribution pattern of the AD-related tau cytoskeletal pathology represents an anatomical mirror of the hierarchical topographic distribution of the cytoskeletal pathology in the interconnected regions of the cerebral cortex of AD patients. These pathoanatomical parallels support the pathophysiological concept of a transneuronal spread of the disease process of AD along anatomical pathways. The AD-related tau cytoskeletal pathology in the thalamus most likely contributes substantially to the neuropsychiatric disease symptoms (e.g., dementia), attention deficits, oculomotor dysfunctions, altered non-discriminative aspects of pain experience of AD patients, and the disruption of their waking and sleeping patterns.

No parkinsonism in SCA2 and SCA3 despite severe neurodegeneration of the dopaminergic substantia nigra.

See Klockgether (doi:10.1093/awv253) for a scientific commentary on this article.The spinocerebellar ataxias types 2 (SCA2) and 3 (SCA3) are autosomal dominantly inherited cerebellar ataxias which are caused by CAG trinucleotide repeat expansions in the coding regions of the disease-specific genes. Although previous post-mortem studies repeatedly revealed a consistent neurodegeneration of the dopaminergic substantia nigra in patients with SCA2 and with SCA3, parkinsonian motor features evolve only rarely. As the pathophysiological mechanism how SCA2 and SCA3 patients do not exhibit parkinsonism is still enigmatic, we performed a positron emission tomography and a post-mortem study of two independent cohorts of SCA2 and SCA3 patients with and without parkinsonian features. Positron emission tomography revealed a significant reduction of dopamine transporter levels in the striatum as well as largely unaffected postsynaptic striatal D2 receptors. In spite of this remarkable pathology in the motor mesostriatal pathway, only 4 of 19 SCA2 and SCA3 patients suffered from parkinsonism. The post-mortem investigation revealed, in addition to an extensive neuronal loss in the dopaminergic substantia nigra of all patients with spinocerebellar ataxia, a consistent affection of the thalamic ventral anterior and ventral lateral nuclei, the pallidum and the cholinergic pedunculopontine nucleus. With the exception of a single patient with SCA3 who suffered from parkinsonian motor features during his lifetime, the subthalamic nucleus underwent severe neuronal loss, which was clearly more severe in its motor territory than in its limbic or associative territories. Our observation that lesions of the motor territory of the subthalamic nucleus were consistently associated with the prevention of parkinsonism in our SCA2 and SCA3 patients matches the clinical experience that selective targeting of the motor territory of the subthalamic nucleus by focal lesions or deep brain stimulation can ameliorate parkinsonian motor features and is likely to counteract the manifestation of parkinsonism in SCA2 and SCA3 despite a severe neurodegeneration of the dopaminergic substantia nigra.

Irradiation with X-rays phase-advances the molecular clockwork in liver, adrenal gland and pancreas.

The circadian clock of man and mammals shows a hierarchic organization. The master clock, located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), controls peripheral oscillators distributed throughout the body. Rhythm generation depends on molecular clockworks based on transcriptional/translational interaction of clock genes. Numerous studies have shown that the clockwork in peripheral oscillators is capable to maintain circadian rhythms for several cycles in vitro, i.e. in the absence of signals from the SCN. The aim of the present study is to analyze the effects of irradiation with X-rays on the clockwork of liver, adrenal and pancreas. To this end organotypic slice cultures of liver (OLSC) and organotypic explant cultures of adrenal glands (OAEC) and pancreas (OPEC) were prepared from transgenic mPer2(luc) mice which express luciferase under the control of the promoter of an important clock gene, Per2, and allow to study the dynamics of the molecular clockwork by bioluminometry. The preparations were cultured in a membrane-based liquid-air interface culturing system and irradiated with X-rays at doses of 10 Gy and 50 Gy or left untreated. Bioluminometric real-time recordings show a stable oscillation of all OLSC, OAEC and OPEC for up to 12 days in vitro. Oscillations persist after irradiation with X-rays. However, a dose of 50 Gy caused a phase advance in the rhythm of the OLSC by 5 h, in the OPEC by 7 h and in the OAEC by 6 h. Our study shows that X-rays affect the molecular clockwork in liver, pancreas and adrenal leading to phase advances. Our results confirm and extend previous studies showing a phase-advancing effect of X-rays at the level of the whole animal and single cells.

Huntington's Disease (HD): Neurodegeneration of Brodmann's Primary Visual Area 17 (BA17).

Huntington's disease (HD), an autosomal dominantly inherited polyglutamine or CAG repeat disease along with somatomotor, oculomotor, psychiatric and cognitive symptoms, presents clinically with impairments of elementary and complex visual functions as well as altered visual-evoked potentials (VEPs). Previous volumetric and pathoanatomical post-mortem investigations pointed to an involvement of Brodmann's primary visual area 17 (BA17) in HD. Because the involvement of BA17 could be interpreted as an early onset brain neurodegeneration, we further characterized this potential primary cortical site of HD-related neurodegeneration neuropathologically and performed an unbiased estimation of the absolute nerve cell number in thick gallocyanin-stained frontoparallel tissue sections through the striate area of seven control individuals and seven HD patients using Cavalieri's principle for volume and the optical disector for nerve and glial cell density estimations. This investigation showed a reduction of the estimated absolute nerve cell number of BA17 in the HD patients (71,044,037 ± 12,740,515 nerve cells) of 32% in comparison with the control individuals (104,075,067 ± 9,424,491 nerve cells) (Mann-Whitney U-test; P < 0.001). Additional pathoanatomical studies showed that nerve cell loss was most prominent in the outer pyramidal layer III, the inner granular layers IVa and IVc as well as in the multiform layer VI of BA17 of the HD patients. Our neuropathological results in BA17 confirm and extend previous post-mortem, biochemical and in vivo neuroradiological HD findings and offer suitable explanations for the elementary and complex visual dysfunctions, as well as for the altered VEP observed in HD patients.

Potentiation of neurotoxicity in double-mutant mice with Pink1 ablation and A53T-SNCA overexpression.

The common age-related neurodegeneration of Parkinson's disease can result from dominant causes like increased dosage of vesicle-associated alpha-synuclein (SNCA) or recessive causes like deficiency of mitophagy factor PINK1. Interactions between these triggers and their convergence onto shared pathways are crucial, but currently conflicting evidence exists. Here, we crossed previously characterized mice with A53T-SNCA overexpression and with Pink1 deletion to generate double mutants (DMs). We studied their lifespan and behavior, histological and molecular anomalies at late and early ages. DM animals showed potentiated phenotypes in comparison with both single mutants (SMs), with reduced survival and strongly reduced spontaneous movements from the age of 3 months onwards. In contrast to SMs, a quarter of DM animals manifested progressive paralysis at ages >1 year and exhibited protein aggregates immunopositive for pSer129-SNCA, p62 and ubiquitin in spinal cord and basal brain. Brain proteome quantifications of ubiquitination sites documented altered degradation of SNCA and the DNA-damage marker H2AX at the age of 18 months. Global brain transcriptome profiles and qPCR validation experiments identified many consistent transcriptional dysregulations already at the age of 6 weeks, which were absent from SMs. The observed downregulations for Dapk1, Dcaf17, Rab42 and the novel SNCA-marker Lect1 as well as the upregulations for Dctn5, Mrpl9, Tmem181a, Xaf1 and H2afx reflect changes in ubiquitination, mitochondrial/synaptic/microtubular/cell adhesion dynamics and DNA damage. Thus, our study confirmed that SNCA-triggered neurotoxicity is exacerbated by the absence of PINK1 and identified a novel molecular signature that is detectable early in the course of this double pathology.

The brainstem pathologies of Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.

Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) are among the human synucleinopathies, which show alpha-synuclein immunoreactive neuronal and/or glial aggregations and progressive neuronal loss in selected brain regions (eg, substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, pedunculopontine nucleus). Despite several studies about brainstem pathologies in PD and DLB, there is currently no detailed information available regarding the presence of alpha-synuclein immunoreactive inclusions (i) in the cranial nerve, precerebellar, vestibular and oculomotor brainstem nuclei and (ii) in brainstem fiber tracts and oligodendroctyes. Therefore, we analyzed the inclusion pathologies in the brainstem nuclei (Lewy bodies, LB; Lewy neurites, LN; coiled bodies, CB) and fiber tracts (LN, CB) of PD and DLB patients. As reported in previous studies, LB and LN were most prevalent in the substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, pedunculopontine and raphe nuclei, periaqueductal gray, locus coeruleus, parabrachial nuclei, reticular formation, prepositus hypoglossal, dorsal motor vagal and solitary nuclei. Additionally we were able to demonstrate LB and LN in all cranial nerve nuclei, premotor oculomotor, precerebellar and vestibular brainstem nuclei, as well as LN in all brainstem fiber tracts. CB were present in nearly all brainstem nuclei and brainstem fiber tracts containing LB and/or LN. These findings can contribute to a large variety of less well-explained PD and DLB symptoms (eg, gait and postural instability, impaired balance and postural reflexes, falls, ingestive and oculomotor dysfunctions) and point to the occurrence of disturbances of intra-axonal transport processes and transneuronal spread of the underlying pathological processes of PD and DLB along anatomical pathways.

The Neuropathology of Huntington´s disease: classical findings, recent developments and correlation to functional neuroanatomy.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a severe, autosomal dominantly inherited, gradually worsening neurological disorder, the clinical features of which were first described in 1863 by Irving W. Lyon and with additional details, in 1872, by George Huntington. Progress in molecular biological research has shown that HD is caused by meiotically unstable CAG-repeats in the mutated HD gene (the so-called IT 15 gene) on chromosome 4p16.3, which encodes the mutated protein huntingtin (Htt). This monograph provides a survey of the stepwise progress in neuropathological HD research made during a time period of more than hundred years, the currently known neuropathological hallmarks of HD, as well as their pathogenic and clinical relevance. Starting with the initial descriptions of the progressive degeneration of the neostriatum (i.e., caudate nucleus and putamen) as one of the key events in HD, the worldwide practiced Vonsattel HD grading system of striatal neurodegeneration will be outlined. Correlating qualitative and quantitative neuropathological data with characteristics pertaining to the functional neuroanatomy of the human brain, subsequent chapters will highlight the latest neuropathological HD findings: the area- and layer-specifi c neuronal loss in the cerebral neo- and allocortex, the neurodegeneration of select thalamic nuclei, the affection of the cerebellar cortex and the deep cerebellar nuclei, the involvement of distinct brainstem nuclei, and the pathophysiological relevance of these pathologies for the clinical phenotype of HD. Finally, the potential pathophysiological role of axonal transport deficit

Huntington's disease (HD): degeneration of select nuclei, widespread occurrence of neuronal nuclear and axonal inclusions in the brainstem.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive polyglutamine disease that leads to a severe striatal and layer-specific neuronal loss in the cerebral neo-and allocortex. As some of the clinical symptoms (eg, oculomotor dysfunctions) suggested a degeneration of select brainstem nuclei, we performed a systematic investigation of the brainstem of eight clinically diagnosed and genetically confirmed HD patients. This post-mortem investigation revealed a consistent neuronal loss in the substantia nigra, pontine nuclei, reticulotegmental nucleus of the pons, superior and inferior olives, in the area of the excitatory burst neurons for horizontal saccades, raphe interpositus nucleus and vestibular nuclei. Immunoreactive intranuclear neuronal inclusions were present in all degenerated and apparently spared brainstem nuclei and immunoreactive axonal inclusions were observed in all brainstem fiber tracts of the HD patients. Degeneration of brainstem nuclei can account for a number of less well-understood clinical HD symptoms (ie, cerebellar, oculomotor and vestibular symptoms), while the formation of axonal aggregates may represent a crucial event in the cascades of pathological events leading to neurodegeneration in HD.

Clinical features, neurogenetics and neuropathology of the polyglutamine spinocerebellar ataxias type 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7.

The spinocerebellar ataxias type 1 (SCA1), 2 (SCA2), 3 (SCA3), 6 (SCA6) and 7 (SCA7) are genetically defined autosomal dominantly inherited progressive cerebellar ataxias (ADCAs). They belong to the group of CAG-repeat or polyglutamine diseases and share pathologically expanded and meiotically unstable glutamine-encoding CAG-repeats at distinct gene loci encoding elongated polyglutamine stretches in the disease proteins. In recent years, progress has been made in the understanding of the pathogenesis of these currently incurable diseases: Identification of underlying genetic mechanisms made it possible to classify the different ADCAs and to define their clinical and pathological features. Furthermore, advances in molecular biology yielded new insights into the physiological and pathophysiological role of the gene products of SCA1, SCA2, SCA3, SCA6 and SCA7 (i.e. ataxin-1, ataxin-2, ataxin-3, α-1A subunit of the P/Q type voltage-dependent calcium channel, ataxin-7). In the present review we summarize our current knowledge about the polyglutamine ataxias SCA1, SCA2, SCA3, SCA6 and SCA7 and compare their clinical and electrophysiological features, genetic and molecular biological background, as well as their brain pathologies. Furthermore, we provide an overview of the structure, interactions and functions of the different disease proteins. On the basis of these comprehensive data, similarities, differences and possible disease mechanisms are discussed.

Degeneration of the cerebellum in Huntington's disease (HD): possible relevance for the clinical picture and potential gateway to pathological mechanisms of the disease process.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a polyglutamine disease and characterized neuropathologically by degeneration of the striatum and select layers of the neo- and allocortex. In the present study, we performed a systematic investigation of the cerebellum in eight clinically diagnosed and genetically confirmed HD patients. The cerebellum of all HD patients showed a considerable atrophy, as well as a consistent loss of Purkinje cells and nerve cells of the fastigial, globose, emboliform and dentate nuclei. This pathology was obvious already in HD brains assigned Vonsattel grade 2 striatal atrophy and did not correlate with the extent and distribution of striatal atrophy. Therefore, our findings suggest (i) that the cerebellum degenerates early during HD and independently from the striatal atrophy and (ii) that the onset of the pathological process of HD is multifocal. Degeneration of the cerebellum might contribute significantly to poorly understood symptoms occurring in HD such as impaired rapid alternating movements and fine motor skills, dysarthria, ataxia and postural instability, gait and stance imbalance, broad-based gait and stance, while the morphological alterations (ie ballooned neurons, torpedo-like axonal inclusions) observed in the majority of surviving nerve cells may represent a gateway to the unknown mechanisms of the pathological process of HD.