The purpose of this two-component Core, UK/USA, is to obtain, preserve, examine, collate, and disseminate postmortem human brain tissue, obtained with minimal postmortem delay. Toward this goal, we have assembled and request funding for a staff composed of two Core Directors and two histotechnologists. This Core is responsible for assuring that all brains classified as AD meet the accepted (CERAD) criteria of """"""""definite"""""""" Alzheimer's disease and that those classified as head injury or coronary artery disease meet our defined pathological criteria. Many of the required Core functions which pertain to the autopsy and histopathological examination will be available at no cost to this Program Project as they are part of the routine autopsy service clinical protocols at the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans' Administration Hospital (VA) and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Hospital (UAMS). The McClellan Hospital is a new 1,174 bed hospital with an 814 bed psychiatric chronic care facility and a 360 bed acute care facility located adjacent to UAMS Hospital. The Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders of the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center at the VA, and the Alzheimer's Clinic at UAMS currently follow 400 outpatients, yielding 15 AD autopsies per year. Another 25 autopsy cases per year meet our defined criteria for coronary artery disease. We also receive approximately 35 surgical specimens from temporal lobectomies for intractable epilepsy. We expect specimens from approximately 25 head injury autopsy cases each year through the UK component of this Core located at the Institute for Neurological Sciences (INS), Southern General Hospital, at the University of Glasgow. The Neuropathology Department in the INS provides diagnostic services for the entire population (2.8 million) in the west of Scotland, performing 800 brain examinations (including 90 autopsies from patients dying within the INS) per annum. We have been assured of cooperation in obtaining prompt autopsies in this patient population by the pertinent officials at these institutions by word, letters, and previous collaborations. This Core will provide tissues and services that will enhance and facilitate achievement of the aims of the projects and cores in this Program Project, providing information about glial-neuronal relationships that may be important early pathogenic events in the development of the neuropathological features of Alzheimer's Disease.
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