Relationship of neurofibrillary pathology to cerebral amyloid angiopathy in Alzheimer's disease

Chalmers, K.; Love, Seth; Williams, S.; Wilcock, Gordon

Abstract

Over 90% of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) develop cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). Severe dyshoric CAA, in which amyloid extends into the surrounding brain parenchyma, may be associated with adjacent clustering of tau-immunopositive neurites but the relationship of CAA to neurofibrillary pathology has not been systematically investigated. In the present study this relationship was examined in sections of frontal, temporal and parietal cortex from 25 AD patients with moderate to severe CAA and 26 with mild or absent CAA. We measured immunolabelling of abnormally phosphorylated tau adjacent to Aβ-laden and non-Aβ-laden arteries and arterioles, and in cortex away from arteries and arterioles. We also analysed the possible influence of APOE genotype on these measurements. There were no significant differences between the lobes in measurements of tau labelling, either around blood vessels or elsewhere in the cortex. However, tau labelling around Aβ-laden arteries and arterioles significantly exceeded that around non-Aβ-laden blood vessels (P < 0.001) and this, in turn was greater than the labelling of cortex away from blood vessels (P < 0.001). There was no association between APOE ε4 and the immunolabelling density for tau, whether around amyloid- or non-amyloid-laden arteries and arterioles, or in the cerebral cortex away from these. We propose that both CAA and peri-vascular accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau may be a consequence of elevated levels of soluble Aβ around cortical arteries and arterioles. © 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Citation

Chalmers, K., Love, S., Williams, S., & Wilcock, G. (2005). Relationship of neurofibrillary pathology to cerebral amyloid angiopathy in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology, 31(4), 414-421. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2990.2005.00663.x

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2005
• Journal: Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology
• Print ISSN: 0305-1846
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 414-421
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2990.2005.00663.x
• Keywords: Aβ, Alzheimer's disease, apolipoprotein E, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, neurofibrillary tangles, tau
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1048329
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2990.2005.00663.x