Novel Method to Quantify Neuropil Threads in Brains from Elders With or Without Cognitive Impairment
Abstract
Pathological alterations in dendrites and axons (i.e., neuritic pathologies) occur in the normal aging brain as well as in brains from elders with mild cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative dementia. These alterations may correlate with clinical measures of cognitive abilities, but the contribution of neuropil threads (NTs), which constitute 85-90% of cortical tau pathology, has not been clear because of the lack of quantitative methodologies. We combined quantitative fractionation and image analysis to devise a strategy for measuring the burden of tau-rich NTs in the entorhinal and perirhinal cortex of brains from elders with and without cognitive impairment, including dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD). On the basis of data presented here using this novel strategy, we conclude that this quantitative imaging technique will facilitate efforts to determine the behavioral correlations of neuritic lesions in AD and other brain disorders.
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Neuropil threads may represent the majority of tau burden in Alzheimer's disease, and they are thought to originate from neurons containing neurofibrillary tangles.
“Neuropil threads may represent the majority of tau burden in AD, and they are thought to originate from neurons containing NFTs [62–64].”
From The neuropathological diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (2019) · cites this paper as [64]
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- Authors
- Mitchell, T. W., Nissanov, J., Han, L.-Y., Mufson, E. J., Schneider, J. A., Cochran, E. J., Bennett, D. A., Lee, V. M.-Y., Trojanowski, J. Q., & Arnold, S. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Drexel University (US)
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Rush University Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Arnold, Steven E.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2000-12
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1627-1637
- ISSN
- 0022-1554 (ISSN-L)
- 1551-5044
- OpenAlex
- W2114991107
- Cited by
- 78
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Aging (AG-15819, AG-14449, P01AG014449, P30AG010124, AG-10124)
- National Institute of Mental Health
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
- Keywords
- neuropil threads, tau pathology, Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, entorhinal cortex, perirhinal cortex, image analysis, normal brain aging, dementia
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alzheimer Disease, Brain, Cognition Disorders, Dementia, Chemical Fractionation, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Immunohistochemistry, Neuropil Threads
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