Presenile dementia with progressive supranuclear palsy tangles and Pick bodies: an unusual degenerative disorder involving the cerebral cortex, cerebral nuclei, and brain stem nuclei

Acta Neuropathol. 1992;84(2):128-34. doi: 10.1007/BF00311384.

Abstract

Degeneration of heterogeneous systems in the central nervous system, with widespread distribution of argyrophilic neuronal fibrillary inclusions, was found in a patient with presenile dementia. Atrophy was circumscribed in the frontal and temporal lobes. Neuronal loss was severe in the basal ganglia, subthalamic nucleus, and substantia nigra. Immunocytochemical study using anti-phosphorylated tau and anti-ubiquitin antibodies in conjunction with ultrastructural observations revealed two types of inclusions: neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) in the Edinger-Westphal nucleus, locus coeruleus, cerebellar dentate nucleus, inferior olivary nucleus, and posterior horn of the spinal cord; and Pick bodies (PBs) in the atrophied cerebral cortex and red nucleus. PSP-type NFTs and PBs have been demonstrated in a single case for the first time. Despite their pathognomonic significance in certain disorders, we suggest that these inclusions may reflect a form of cytoskeletal disorganization, which is not entirely restricted to a single disease entity.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain / pathology
  • Brain Stem / pathology
  • Cerebral Cortex / pathology
  • Dementia / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Male
  • Microscopy, Electron
  • Neurofibrillary Tangles / pathology*
  • Organ Size
  • Staining and Labeling
  • Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / pathology*