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Hippocampal sclerosis with four-repeat tau-positive round inclusions in the dentate gyrus: a new type of four-repeat tauopathy

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Abstract

Hippocampal sclerosis is defined as selective neuronal loss and gliosis of the hippocampus with heterogeneous etiologies, including neurodegenerative tauopathies. We report a 78-year-old woman who presented with depression, in whom postmortem examination revealed almost complete loss of neurons with gliosis in the subiculum and CA1-3 regions of the hippocampus and abundant neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions in the dentate gyrus. The inclusions were round, slightly basophilic and argyrophilic, resembling Pick bodies. However, they were Gallyas- and 4-repeat tau-positive, and 3-repeat tau- and ubiquitin-negative. To our knowledge, the histopathological features in this case were different from those in hippocampal sclerosis or 4-repeat tauopathies reported previously. It is likely that this case is a new variant of 4-repeat tauopathy presenting with hippocampal sclerosis.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan and a Grant for Priority Research Designated by the President of Hirosaki University (to K.W.). The authors wish to express their gratitude to M. Nakata and H. Mori for their technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuropathology, Institute of Brain Science, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, 5 Zaifu-cho, Hirosaki, 036-8562, Japan

    Yasuo Miki, Fumiaki Mori & Koichi Wakabayashi

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Aomori Prefectural Central Hospital, Aomori, Japan

    Emiko Hori

  3. Department of Pathology, Aomori Prefectural Central Hospital, Aomori, Japan

    Mitsuomi Kaimori

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  1. Yasuo Miki
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  2. Fumiaki Mori
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Correspondence to Yasuo Miki.

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Miki, Y., Mori, F., Hori, E. et al. Hippocampal sclerosis with four-repeat tau-positive round inclusions in the dentate gyrus: a new type of four-repeat tauopathy. Acta Neuropathol 117, 713–718 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-009-0531-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-009-0531-2

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