Topographical relationship between beta-amyloid and tau protein epitopes in tangle-bearing cells in Alzheimer disease

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 May;87(10):3952-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.10.3952.

Abstract

Double-labeling immunohistochemistry was used to investigate the topographical relationship between beta-amyloid and tau protein epitopes present in cells bearing neurofibrillary tangles found in the hippocampal formation of patients with Alzheimer disease. An antiserum raised against the amino terminus of beta-amyloid stained numerous tangle-bearing cells and other bodies ("extracellular tangles"), but double labeling showed that the beta-amyloid staining is invariably peripheral to that of the tau-positive tangle proper. This and other results suggest that the extracellular amyloid plaques and the intracellular neurofibrillary tangles are biochemically distinct but may result from related pathological events that originate at the level of the nerve cell and lead to its degeneration.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology*
  • Amyloid / analysis*
  • Amyloid / immunology
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Epitopes / analysis*
  • Humans
  • Immune Sera
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Microtubule-Associated Proteins / analysis*
  • Microtubule-Associated Proteins / immunology
  • Models, Neurological
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / analysis*
  • Pyramidal Tracts / pathology
  • tau Proteins

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Epitopes
  • Immune Sera
  • Microtubule-Associated Proteins
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • tau Proteins