Neurofibrillary changes in human brain: An immunocytochemical study with a neurofilament antiserum

Brain samples from cases of Alzheimer’s disease, postencephalitic Parkinson’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Pick’s disease, as well as from a case of Alzheimer’s disease with a large number of Hirano bodies, were stained with the peroxidase-anti-peroxidase method using an antiserum previously shown to immunoreact with normal neurofilaments and neurofilament polypeptides. The specificity of this serum was confirmed by absorption and purified neurofilament proteins. Neurofibrillary tangles of Alzheimer’s disease, postencephalitic Parkinson’s disease, and progressive supranuclear palsy, Pick’s bodies, and the fibrillary inclusions of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were all immunostained. Hirano bodies showed no immunostaining. Thus, with the exception of the Hirano bodies, all the neuronal fibrillary inclusions examined appeared to share common antigenic characteristics. The origin of all these structures from normal neurofilaments is postulated.