The neuropathology core is maintained by a professional staff of Lawrence A. Hanson, M.D. and Eliezer Masliah, M.D. The core will provide post- mortem diagnoses on brain from demented and normal aged control patients clinically evaluated by the San Diego ADRC and maintain a brain tissue bank of formalin fixed and frozen brain tissue from such clinically and neuropathologically characterized patients. Diagnoses will be assigned in accordance with the new neuropathological criteria recently developed the NIA-Regan Institute Working Group. More detailed neuropathologic profiling on each specimen for research purposes will also entail quantification of neocortical and hippocampal plaques and tangles, immunohistochemical stains for amyloid, tau, and ubiquitin, and Braak staging. On the basis of past experience, we anticipate receiving 40 brains annually. In some cases, rapid autopsies (within 8 hours of death) allow fresh brain tissue to be distributed to ADRC affiliated research laboratories for use in RNA biochemistry, in situ section in the midline with the neuropathologic evaluation of the left hemibrain and freezing of the right hemibrain for distribution of frozen brain tissue to other investigators within and outside the ADRC. The standard neuropathological protocol includes H&E, thioflavin-S, anti-amyloid, anti-tau, and anti-ubiquitin preparations of frontal, temporal and parietal lobes, anterior and posterior hippocampus, substantia innominata, mesencephalon, and pons. Lewy body disease is evaluated with both H&E and anti-ubiquitin immunohistochemical preparations. Cresyl violet stained sections are used for neocortical morphometry and image analysis. ChAT activity and synaptophysin measurements are performed to support specific projects. All data are recorded in the computerized database of this core as well as in the ADRC main computer, and can be shared with other ADDCC centers upon request.
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