Abstract
Inflammatory processes have been implicated in the formation of senile plaques in the cerebral cortex of patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT), since several inflammation-induced proteins are present within these plaques. The relation between inflammatory components and other amyloid β protein (Aβ)-containing lesions of the DAT brain [cerebrovascular amyloidosis (CA) and cerebellar senile plaques] is unclear. We studied the distribution of the inflammation-inducible protein intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in CA and in senile plaques of the cerebellum, using an immunohistochemical approach. We observed striking differences in ICAM-1 reactivity between the different types of Aβ-containing lesions. ICAM-1 was only expressed in classic senile plaques in the granular and Purkinje cell layer of the cerebellum, and not in diffuse senile plaques of the molecular layer. Also, ICAM-1 was not associated with CA; only when the vascular amyloid extended into the neuropil (dyshoric angiopathy) was perivascular ICAM-1 reactivity observed. This is in contrast to the putative primary involvement of inflammation in the formation of cerebrocortical classic and diffuse senile plaques. Our findings indicate that ICAM-1 expression, which may be an indicator of an inflammatory reaction, is induced in the neuropil depending on the specific site of Aβ production.
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Received: 2 October 1995 / Revised, accepted: 4 December 1995
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Verbeek, M., Otte-Höller, I., Wesseling, P. et al. Differential expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in the A‚-containing lesions in brains of patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type. Acta Neuropathol 91, 608–615 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004010050474
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004010050474