The Neuropathology Core has been instrumental in providing support for establishing the accuracy of clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), delineating structural and clinico-pathological correlates of dementia in AD, identifying new neuropathological entities causing dementia, provide tissues to investigators and helping to better understand the mechanisms of synaptic degeneration in AD. For the renewal the Aims of the Neuropathology Core will be to: 1) perform rapid autopsies and procure brains from the ADRC participants, using a standardized protocol;2) perform standardized neuropathological diagnoses of demented and normal aged (control) patients clinically evaluated by the UCSD ADRC;3) perform Braak staging and lesion counts for AD, DLB and fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) cases;4) maintain a state of the art brain repository to provide the ADRC projects and other investigators with well characterized;5) perform immunochemical analysis relevant to neurodegeneration and amyloid production in selected ADRC cases and 6) foster the utilization of the ADRC Neuropathology tissue repository for new research and inter-center collaborations. Approximately 40 cases and 20 tissue requests will be processed a year. The neuropathological results will be submitted to the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Committee (NACC) in compliance with NIA requirements. As part of the mission of the Core we will also continue to support extensive collaborations with national and international investigators and train fellows, residents, graduate and undergraduate students in neuropathology and microscopy techniques. We will be provide brain tissues and expert consultation on AD and DLB cases for Project 1, tissues and data relevant to axonal transport pathology in DLB to Project 2, and data on neurodegeneration of selected neuronal regions in DLB cases to Project 3. The Core also contributes significantly to the other Cores and is involved in developing new assays and incorporating new tools for neuropathological analysis including stereology and laser capture microscopy.
AD affects millions of Americans with its risk growing exponentially with age. The AD Centers Program fosters research related to AD and non-AD dementias. The ADRC will enhance the performance of innovative research on AD and related topics, including research that may lead to potential disease modifying therapies or behavioral treatments. It will provide an environment and core resources to enhance research, foster professional and community training, and coordinate interdisciplinary research.
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