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Cell Loss from the Nucleus Basalis of Meynert in Alzheimer's Disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

R. Doucette ,
M. Fisman ,
V.C. Hachinski  and
H. Mersky
R. Doucette*
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
M. Fisman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, London Psychiatric Hospital, London, Ontario
V.C. Hachinski
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University Hospital, London, Ontario
H. Mersky
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, London Psychiatric Hospital, London, Ontario
*
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 0X0
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Abstract:

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We examined the degree of neuronal loss from the nucleus basalis of Meynert (nbM) in two groups of Alzheimer patients differing in the degree of intellectual impairment. Significant cell loss from the nbM was found only in the more severely demented group of patients. Mean cell counts (per lOu, paraffin section) were compiled separately for the anterior, intermediate and posterior subdivisions of the human nbM in three groups of subjects: Group 1 (N = 4) was severely demented and was untestable on the Extended Scale for Dementia (ESD) for at least the last two years of life; Group 2 (N = 4) was less demented and had completed at least one ESD test within 12 months of death; Group 3 (five controls) had died of non-neurological causes. In Group 2 there was a small (but insignificant) trend toward cell loss in the anterior subdivision, and a normal complement of neurons in both the intermediate and posterior subdivisions. There was, however, significant cell loss from all subdivisions of Group 1. How these cell counts may relate to the severity of the dementia is discussed.

Type
Cellular Clues to Pathogenesis
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 13 , Issue S4 , November 1986 , pp. 435 - 440
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1986

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