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PubMed2003

Elderly diabetics with peripheral arterial disease and no coronary artery disease have a higher incidence of new coronary events than elderly nondiabetics with peripheral arterial disease and prior myocardial infarction treated with statins and with no lipid-lowering drug.

BACKGROUND: We report data showing the incidence of new coronary events in diabetics with prior myocardial infarction (MI), nondiabetics with prior MI, diabetes with no coronary artery disease (CAD), and nondiabetics with no CAD who were treated with and without statins. METHODS: We investigated-in an observational prospective study of 274 diabetics and 386 nondiabetics with peripheral arterial disease, mean age years, and a serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level of >/=125 mg/dl-the incidence of new coronary events in diabetics with prior MI, nondiabetics with prior MI, diabetics with no CAD, and nondiabetics with no CAD who were treated with and without statins. Follow-up was months. RESULTS: In patients treated with statins, the incidence of new coronary events was 73% in diabetics with prior MI (group 1), 37% in nondiabetics with prior MI (group 2), 57% in diabetics with no CAD (group 3), and 27% in nondiabetics with no CAD (group 4). In patients treated with no lipid-lowering drug, the incidence of new coronary events was 91% in diabetics with prior MI (group 5), 72% in nondiabetics with prior MI (group 6), 86% in diabetics with no CAD (group 7), and 52% in nondiabetics with no CAD (group 8). Significant p values were p<.0001 for group 1 versus 2, group 7 versus 8, and group 2 versus 6; p=.0006 for group 3 versus 4; p=.0007 for group 3 versus 7; p=.001 for group 5 versus 6; p=.002 for group 4 versus 8; p=.003 for group 1 versus 5; p=.015 for group 2 versus 3; and p=.047 for group 6 versus 7. CONCLUSIONS: In patients treated with and without statins, diabetics with no CAD had a higher incidence of new coronary events than did nondiabetics with prior MI.

Aged↗

PubMed1998

Neuropathologic evidence that the Lewy body variant of Alzheimer disease represents coexistence of Alzheimer disease and idiopathic Parkinson disease.

We undertook this study to investigate the neuropathologic relationships among Alzheimer disease (AD), idiopathic Parkinson disease (PD), and the Lewy body variant of AD (AD/LBV). We retrieved 30 autopsy cases in which Lewy bodies (LB) had been identified in the substantia nigra (SN) in routine hematoxylin-eosin-stained sections. Twenty-two of the cases had a primary clinical diagnosis of dementia and neuropathologic changes of AD; 12 of these demented patients also had clinical parkinsonism. Eight cases had clinical and neuropathologic evidence of PD with minimal or no AD neuropathology, though 6 had clinical dementia. Controls consisted of 6 cases of AD without SN LB by hematoxylin-eosin, and 5 neurologically normal aged controls. Paraffin sections of SN, superior temporal gyrus, and cingulate gyrus from each case were immunostained with rabbit anti-ubiquitin antiserum, randomized, and analyzed individually by light microscopy, and the density of LB-like profiles in each section were graded. None of 5 nondemented aged controls showed any neocortical LB, even though 2 had significant numbers of incidental SN LB by ubiquitin immunostaining. Of 6 AD cases without SN LB by hematoxylin-eosin, 3 had rare SN LB on ubiquitin stain, 1 of which showed rare neocortical Lewy-like profiles. Seven of 8 PD cases showed neocortical LB, including the 6 with dementia. Twenty-one of 22 AD cases with SN LB showed ubiquitin-immunoreactive Lewy-like bodies in the neocortex that were statistically significantly greater in number than in either pure PD or pure AD cases. The frequent occurrence of LB in the neocortex in PD alone suggests that AD/LBV likely represents mixed AD/PD. However, AD neuropathology may favor or promote the formation of neocortical LB in patients who go on to develop mixed AD/PD pathology.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

Association of ankle-brachial index with severity of angiographic coronary artery disease in patients with peripheral arterial disease and coronary artery disease.

The ankle-brachial index (ABI) was correlated with the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) in 273 patients, mean age 71 years, with peripheral arterial disease and angiographically obstructive CAD (> 50% occlusion). Of 155 patients with an ABI < 0.40, 130 (84%) had 3- or 4-vessel CAD, 17 (11%) had 2-vessel CAD and 8 (5%) had 1-vessel CAD. Of 80 patients with an ABI of 0.40-0.69, 37 (46%) had 3- or 4-vessel CAD, 33 (41%) had 2-vessel CAD and 10 (13%) had 1-vessel CAD. Of 38 patients with an ABI of 0.70-0.89, 10 (26%) had 3- or 4-vessel CAD, 16 (42%) had 2-vessel CAD and 12 (32%) had 1-vessel CAD. The lower the ABI, the higher the prevalence of 3- or 4-vessel CAD and the lower the prevalence of 1-vessel CAD.

Adult↗

PubMed1983

Vaccination against Marek's disease and infectious bursal disease. I. Development of a bivalent live vaccine by co-cultivating turkey herpesvirus and infectious bursal disease vaccine viruses in chicken embryo fibroblast monolayers.

Vaccine viruses of Marek's disease (MD), the FC-126 strain of the herpesvirus of turkeys (HVT), and infectious bursal disease (IBD), the Bursa-Vac-M strain of IBD virus (IBDV), were propagated in the same chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) monolayers by superinfection. Co-infection of the two viruses in the same CEF culture or in a single cell can be demonstrated by staining with acridine orange and by electron microscopy.l This study was conducted with a superinfected live bivalent vaccine (HVT/IBDV) in one-day-old specific pathogen-free (SPF) and conventional White Leghorn (CWL) chicks. Chickens vaccinated with HVT/IBDV produced persistent HVT viremia for at least 6 weeks postvaccination; significantly higher IBD virus neutralizing antibody levels were observed for the entire 8-week experimental period when compared to unvaccinated controls. Differences between virus neutralizing antibody titers stimulated by HVT/IBDV and IBDV alone were not statistically significant in SPF chickens; however, due to maternal antibody there were some significant differences in CWL chickens. Both the HVT/IBDV bivalent vaccine and the monovalent IBDV vaccine protected the chickens against challenge with virulent IBDV. Based on microscopic lesions and bursa: body weight indexes, challenge of vaccinated chickens with virulent IBDV caused no atrophy in the bursa of Fabricius, but severe tissue destruction was observed in unvaccinated challenged controls. Chickens vaccinated with HVT/IBDV vaccine or with HVT alone were effectively protected against MD when compared to the controls.

Animals↗

PubMed1985

Simultaneous application of live turkey herpesvirus and infectious bursal disease vaccines against Marek's disease and infectious bursal disease.

The efficacy of cell-associated (CA) and cell-free (CF) infectious bursal disease (IBD) vaccines in maternal antibody (MAb)-bearing broiler chickens was compared. Compatibility and potency of a mixed vaccine combining live CA turkey herpesvirus (HVT) and CA IBD vaccine viruses were also tested against gross lesions induced by Marek's disease (MD) or IBD in specific-pathogen-free chickens. Both CA and CF IBD vaccines provided significant protection against gross bursal lesions of IBD in the presence of MAb. Although chickens receiving the CA vaccine showed a slightly higher (60 to 86.7%) protective index (PX) than CF vaccine recipients (40 to 66.7%), there was no statistical difference in their PX between comparable CA and CF IBD vaccines. The HVT and IBD virus (IBDV) were compatible when they were combined as a live bivalent mixed HVT-IBDV vaccine. Based on the incidence of gross lesions induced by challenge exposure to MD or IBD, potency of the mixed vaccine was similar to that of the monovalent HVT or IBD vaccine. Antagonism did not occur between the two component vaccines when they were applied simultaneously.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Antibody titers to infectious bursal disease virus in broiler chicks after vaccination at one day of age with infectious bursal disease virus and Marek's disease virus.

The effect of day-of-age vaccination with infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) alone or in combination with Marek's disease virus (MDV) in broiler chicks was investigated. One-day-old commercial broiler progeny obtained from IBDV-immunized breeder flocks were vaccinated subcutaneously according to the manufacturer's directions with live-attenuated commercially available vaccines as follows: IBDV alone, MDV alone, IBDV + MDV, and unvaccinated control. IBDV was not detected after vaccination by reverse transcriptase/polymerase chain reaction in any of the bursal, thymic, and splenic tissues tested. Serum IBDV antibody levels, as monitored by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), showed similar rates of decline among the four groups, and, by day 28 postinoculation, serum antibody levels in all groups were below detectable limits. IBDV-specific neutralizing maternal antibody (MA) titers in the IBDV + MDV and control groups, as monitored by the virus neutralization assay (VN), remained higher and declined more slowly throughout the experiment as compared with VN titers in the IBDV- and the MDV-vaccinated groups. In a second experiment, groups of one-day-old broiler chicks were vaccinated as in Experiment 1. Serum IBDV antibody detected by ELISA and VN assay declined parallel to those observed in Experiment 1. Histopathologic lesions characteristic of IBDV were not observed in any of the groups. Vaccination with MDV alone was associated with increased rates of IBDV neutralizing MA decline similar to those caused by vaccination with IBDV alone, whereas concurrent vaccination with IBDV + MDV was not associated with increased rates of IBDV neutralizing MA decline over that of nonvaccinated controls. Results of these studies indicate that IBDV vaccination at 1 day of age does not cause accelerated IBDV-specific MA decline as detected by ELISA but does appear to cause an accelerated decline in neutralizing IBDV-specific MA. Furthermore, vaccination with IBDV at 1 day of age appeared to slow the accelerated rate of IBDV neutralizing antibody decline caused by MDV vaccination.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Early undifferentiated connective tissue disease. I. Early clinical manifestation in a large cohort of patients with undifferentiated connective tissue diseases compared with cohorts of well established connective tissue disease.

We identified a cohort of 410 patients with connective tissue disorders (CTD) of less than or equal to 1 year duration among the participating clinics of the Cooperative Systematic Studies of the Rheumatic Diseases Program. Fifty-seven had rheumatic arthritis (RA), 57 systemic lupus erythematosus, 37 poly/dermatomyositis, 46 scleroderma, and 213 early undifferentiated CTD, including patients with Raynaud's phenomenon, unexplained polyarthritis or at least 3 CTD manifestations such as rashes, myalgias, etc. Baseline clinical data are now being reported. The followup of these patients may prove to be valuable in understanding these diseases. To our knowledge no similar cohort of patients is available for further investigation.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Selective increase of NMDA-sensitive glutamate binding in the striatum of Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and mixed Parkinson's disease/Alzheimer's disease patients: an autoradiographic study.

Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) may share certain abnormalities since a subset of PD patients suffer from dementia, and some AD individuals show extrapyramidal symptoms. In vitro quantitative autoradiography was used to examine different subtypes of excitatory amino acid (EAA) receptors (NMDA, KA, and AMPA) and dopamine transporter sites in the striatum (caudate, putamen) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) from idiopathic PD, pure AD, and mixed PD/AD patients. PD and AD groups, and to a lesser extent the PD/AD groups, showed substantially increased binding to NMDA receptors in the striatum and NAc. No statistically significant changes in binding to KA and AMPA receptors were found in any patient group. 3H-mazindol binding to dopamine transporter sites was significantly decreased in the striatum and NAc of PD and PD/AD patients, but only in the putamen and NAc of AD patients. The data indicate that (1) the majority of striatal EAA receptors are not located on dopaminergic nigrostriatal nerve terminals, and (2) elevated binding to striatal NMDA receptors correlates with binding to dopamine transporter sites in PD patients, but not in AD and PD/AD individuals. Thus, the mechanisms of NMDA receptor changes in the striatum of AD and PD patients may be different. However, it is postulated that increased binding to NMDA receptors in Parkinson and Alzheimer striatum occurs in response to an insult(s) within the striatothalamocortical circuits and that this may contribute to the clinical similarities described for subsets of PD and AD patients.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Foot-and-mouth disease: susceptibility of domestic poultry and free-living birds to infection and to disease--a review of the historical and current literature concerning the role of birds in spread of foot-and-mouth disease viruses.

Ruminants and pigs are the dominant natural hosts of food-and-mouth disease (FMD) viruses. Approximately 70 additional mammalian species are found to be susceptible under natural or experimental conditions. Reptilia, amphibia, and fish are probably naturally resistant to infection. According to the reviewed literature, domestic birds (chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl, ducks and geese) have been experimentally infected with some strains of FMD viruses and may develop lesions suggestive of FMD such as vesicular lesions on the comb, wattles, eye lids, and feet. Since chickens are to some extent coprophagous, chickens get infected by ingestion of virus under conditions of natural exposure or their plumage gets contaminated in an infectious environment. Thus, domestic birds kept in free-run systems may serve as virus vectors for short distances. Free-living birds, especially starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), sea gulls (Larus canus), house-sparrows (Passer domesticus) have been successfully experimentally infected and developed vesicular lesions on the skin and mucosal membranes of the mouth. During epizootics of FMD the plumage of these free-living birds can be contaminated with FMD viruses and the virus is spread over long distances during migration periods in spring and autumn. Thus migrating birds may assume an active role in long distance dissemination of FMD viruses.

Animals↗

PubMed1999

[Costs of coronary heart diseases over the remaining life time in coronary heart disease cases--an analysis of the current status of coronary heart disease cases in Germany from the social perspective].

UNLABELLED: Cardiovascular diseases are the major cause of death not only in Germany. Coronary heart diseases result in substantial disability and loss of productivity and contribute to escalating costs of health care. OBJECTIVE: It was our objective to estimate the costs of CHD for the German population from the perspective of the society. The characteristic of this approach is the calculating of costs until the approximated end of life. METHODS: In the study, all health care costs concerning CHD in Germany were allocated to age, sex, health care sector and primary diagnosis on the basis of comprehensive data on morbidity, mortality, direct and indirect costs. For the estimate of indirect costs the human capital approach was taken. Considered as cases were all patients hospitalized in the reference year (1996). The costs of this cohort in 1996 and up to their protected end of life were estimated. It was taken into account that, in comparison to the general population, life expectancy of cases with risk factors or CHD would have been reduced. In calculating indirect costs, gender and age specific unemployment rates were considered. All future costs were discounted by 4% from the reference year onward. RESULTS: Direct costs are approximately 39 billion DM discounted at 4%, indirect costs total 73 billion DM. The average cost per case (including morbidity and mortality) until the approximated end of life is nearly 125,000 DM. CONCLUSION: In our cost analysis, the indirect costs are higher than the direct costs. For the future, it will be important to estimate the costs of prevalent cases until the end of life and to compare the influence of different interventions on these parameters and on the whole budget of the social security system.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Characteristics of neuronal lipofuscin in the superior temporal gyrus in Alzheimer's disease do not differ from non-diseased controls: a comparison with disease-related changes in the superior frontal gyrus.

Neuronal lipofuscin characteristics in the superior temporal gyrus from 21 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and from 18 age-matched non-diseased subjects were compared with previously reported findings from the superior frontal gyrus. A discriminant function analysis of lipofuscin characteristics in the superior temporal gyrus did not provide a significant predictive level for cases whose diagnoses were correctly classified (56.4%, P=0.63). In contrast, AD-related decrease in the number of smaller lipofuscin regions in the neurons of the frontal gyrus was confirmed, and the same analysis of lipofuscin characteristics in this region gave a significant predictive level for membership of the AD group of 86.6% (P<0.001). The findings indicate that changes in neuronal lipofuscin related to AD, which may reflect an increased rate of lipofuscin formation, show differences between neocortical regions. This study provides additional information on the distribution of neuropathological characteristics in AD.

Aged↗

PubMed1998

Vaccination with Aleutian mink disease parvovirus (AMDV) capsid proteins enhances disease, while vaccination with the major non-structural AMDV protein causes partial protection from disease.

Vaccination studies were performed with partially purified recombinant AMDV VP1/2 capsids as well as with the major AMDV non-structural protein (NS1). All vaccine constructs induced an antibody response, but did not prevent infection upon challenge with AMDV. The severity of Aleutian disease (AD) was judged by the serum gammaglobulin level, the quantity of peripheral blood CD8 lymphocytes, antibody titers to VP1/2 and NS1 proteins and mink death rates. The VP1/2 vaccine constructs enhanced the disease process with drastic death rates for the vaccinated mink. On the contrary, the NS1 vaccine constructs resulted in milder AD than seen in the non-vaccinated mink.

Aleutian Mink Disease Virus↗

PubMed1994

Apo E allele frequencies in Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer's disease with cerebrovascular disease and vascular dementia.

Apolipoprotein (Apo E) was genotyped using a fluorescent PCR-RFLP assay in 187 patients with a probable or possible clinical diagnosis of sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in 166 autopsied patients with dementia (21 presenile AD, 70 senile AD, 18 Lewy body dementia (LBD), 38 AD with cerebrovascular disease (AD-CVD), 19 vascular dementia). The relative epsilon 4 allele frequency was 0.472 in LBD, 0.513 in AD-CVD, 0.405 in presenile AD, 0.364 in senile AD, and 0.079 in vascular dementia. The relative epsilon 2 allele frequency was 0.211 in vascular dementia, 0.083 in LBD, 0.047 in presenile AD, 0.100 in senile AD and 0.039 in AD with CVD. We infer that apo E is a major risk factor for structural phenotypes of dementia involving AD, alone or in conjunction with another pathology. In addition, the epsilon 2 allele is likely to represent a risk factor for vascular morbidity, as the relative epsilon 2 allele frequency was 0.211 in patients with vascular dementia compared with 0.144 in elderly controls.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Ubiquitin immunohistochemistry suggests classic motor neuron disease, motor neuron disease with dementia, and frontotemporal dementia of the motor neuron disease type represent a clinicopathologic spectrum.

One of the characteristic pathologic changes in classic motor neuron disease (MND) is the presence of ubiquitin-immunoreactive (ub-ir) inclusions in the cytoplasm of lower motor neurons. In addition, cases of MND with dementia (MND-d) also have ub-ir neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions and dystrophic neurites in extramotor neocortex and hippocampus. Although this extramotor pathology is a highly sensitive marker for dementia in MND, similar changes are found in a subset of patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) with no motor symptoms (FTD-MND type). The purpose of this study is to more fully describe and compare the pattern of ub-ir pathology in these 3 conditions. We performed ubiquitin immunohistochemistry on postmortem tissue, representing a wide range of neuroanatomic structures, in cases of classic MND (n = 20), MND-d (n = 15), and FTD-MND type (n = 15). We found the variety of morphologies and the anatomic distribution of ub-ir pathology to be greater than previously documented. Moreover, the degree of overlap suggests that MND, MND-d, and FTD-MND type represent a spectrum of clinical disease with a common pathologic substrate. The only finding restricted to a specific subgroup of patients was the presence of ub-ir neuronal intranuclear inclusions in some cases of familial FTD.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Why are patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at increased risk of cardiovascular diseases? The potential role of systemic inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) increases the risk of cardiovascular disease 2- to 3-fold. The factors responsible for this association remain largely unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: We analyzed data from participants, > or =50 years of age, of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (n=6629) to determine whether C-reactive protein (CRP) and other systemic inflammatory markers are present in participants with chronic airflow obstruction and are associated with cardiac injury. Participants with severe airflow obstruction had circulating leukocyte, platelet, and fibrinogen levels that were 460/ microL (95% confidence interval [CI], 30 to 890/ microL), 39 510/ microL (95% CI, 21 730 to 57 290/ microL), and 41.63 mg/dL (95% CI, 19.87 to 63.39 mg/dL) higher, respectively, than in those without airflow obstruction. They were also 2.18 times (95% CI, 1.46 to 3.27) more likely to have an elevated circulating CRP level. Moderate airflow obstruction was associated with smaller but still significant increases in these levels. Moderate and severe airflow obstruction was associated with increased occurrence of ischemic changes on electrocardiograms of participants. In the presence of both highly elevated CRP and moderate or severe airflow obstruction, the Cardiac Infarction Injury Score was 2.68 and 5.88 U higher, respectively, than in those without airflow obstruction and with low CRP, which suggests an additive effect of CRP and COPD on the risk of cardiac injury. CONCLUSION: Low-grade systemic inflammation was present in participants with moderate to severe airflow obstruction and was associated with increased risk of cardiac injury. This may in part explain the high rates of cardiovascular complications in COPD.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

Cardiovascular risk factors and common carotid artery caliber and stiffness in patients with Cushing's disease during active disease and 1 year after disease remission.

Cardiovascular accidents represent the most important cause of death in patients with Cushing's syndrome. This prospective study aims at evaluating carotid arteries by echo-Doppler ultrasonography and clinical and metabolic markers of atherosclerosis in 25 patients with Cushing's disease (CD) before and after 1 yr of remission. Thirty-two sex- and age-matched subjects (control-1) and 32 body mass index-matched subjects (control-2) served as controls. At diagnosis, CD patients had higher body mass index, waist to hip ratio (WHR), total, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol and total/high-density lipoprotein (HDL) ratio, glucose and insulin, as well as lower HDL-cholesterol than control-1; they had higher WHR and total/HDL ratio and lower HDL-cholesterol than control-2. They also had higher intima-media thickness (IMT), and lower systolic lumen diameter and distensibility coefficient (DC) than either control group. Atherosclerotic plaques were detected in 31.2% of patients, 0 control-1, and 6.2% of control-2 subjects. One year after remission, WHR, LDL-cholesterol, and IMT significantly decreased, whereas systolic lumen diameter and DC significantly increased. However, all of the above parameters were still abnormal compared with control-1, but not control-2. A significant correlation was found between WHR, glucose and insulin levels, and right and left carotid IMT. WHR was the best predictor of left IMT and left DC in active, but not in cured, patients. The duration of hypercortisolism was the best predictor of right DC in active but not in cured patients. In conclusion, patients with CD have severe atherosclerotic damage. The persistence of a metabolic syndrome, vascular damage, and atherosclerotic plaques after cortisol level normalization makes these subjects still at high cardiovascular risk despite disease remission.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Induction of mucosal disease in cattle persistently infected with noncytopathic bovine viral diarrhea-mucosal disease virus by superinfection with cytopathic bovine viral diarrhea-mucosal disease virus.

Three head of cattle persistently infected with noncytopathic bovine viral diarrhea-mucosal disease virus (ncBVD-MDV) were superinfected naturally or experimentally with cytopathic bovine viral diarrhea-mucosal disease virus (cBVD-MDV). In the naturally superinfected case, one animal manifested pyrexia and severe diarrhea, and died without developing antibodies to cBVD-MDV. However, another animal survived with only continual slight anorexia and pyrexia, and developed strong resistance to the superinfected strain. In the experimental cases, induction of MD was unsuccessful in two persistently infected cattle when superinfected with cBVD-MDV antigenically heterologous for persistently infected ncBVD-MDV. They also developed antibodies to the cBVD-MDV strain with which they had been infected. After 6 months, these cattle were infected again with a cBVD-MDV strain different from that used in the previous experiment. One animal infected with this strain, which was antigenically homologous to the persistently infected strain, died after developing MD symptoms without developing antibodies to the infecting strain. It is suggested that the antigenic relationship between the persistent ncBVD-MDV and the superinfected cBVD-MDV was an important factor in developing MD.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Morphological analysis of active microglia--rod and ramified microglia in human brains affected by some neurological diseases (SSPE, Alzheimer's disease and Wilson's disease).

The activation of microglial cells in pathological conditions is manifested primarily by their proliferation, as well as by the occurrence of a new morphological form--rod microglia. In the present study immunohistochemical identification of rod microglial phenotype against ramified microglia was performed on segments of 17 brains derived from 7 cases of encephalitis of viral aetiology (including 5 SSPE cases), 6 cases of Wilson's disease and 4 cases of Alzheimer's disease. Segments from frontal, temporal and occipital lobes, cerebellum and brainstem were subjected to histological, histochemical and immunohistochemical reactions. The presence of activated rod and ramified microglia was observed in sections derived from all structures of the brains under study. Both morphological forms of activated microglia reacted to antibodies: HLA II, CD68, HAM56 and lectin RCA-1. Expression of HLA II molecules was less intensive on the surface of microglial rod cells. A positive reaction to PCNA antibody was mainly observed in rod/elongated/cylinder-shaped nuclei, which is a characteristic feature of rod microglia. In the study material, the localisation of microglial processes seemed to depend rather on the structural topography of the cell in the brain than on the nuclear shape of the activated microglial cell. Our observations revealed a strong similarity between immunohistochemical phenotypes of both morphological forms of microglia with the indication that rod microglia is a first developmental form of activated microglia.

Adolescent↗