Formalin fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from the investigated cases were evaluated. Immunostaining for tau was performed with anti-tau PHF-1 (Ser396/Ser404, 1:2000; Gift of Peter Davies) and the AT8 antibody (Ser202/Thr205, 1:200, Invitrogen/Thermofischer, MN1020, Carlsbad, USA. For concomitant proteinopathies, we evaluated these cases for Aβ, TDP-43, and alpha-synuclein pathologies as well as for vascular lesions [33 (link), 44 (link)].
We evaluated neuronal (tangles and diffuse cytoplasmic immunoreactivity and threads), astrocytic (tufted astrocytes and other morphologies pooled together), and oligodendroglial (coiled bodies together with threads in the white matter) tau pathologies using a semiquantitative score (none, mild, moderate, severe). The following anatomical regions were examined: The middle frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate, inferior parietal gyrus, superior and middle temporal gyrus, precentral gyrus, and occipital cortex (including the striate, para- and peristriate regions), hippocampus (pyramidal layers and dentate gyrus together), amygdala, the caudate-putamen, globus pallidus, thalamus and subthalamic nucleus (these are in one block), the midbrain tegmentum, substantia nigra, locus coeruleus, pontine base, tegmentum, and inferior olives of the medulla oblongata (together represented here as medulla oblongata for the conditional probability analysis), cerebellar white matter (threads and coiled bodies), and dentate nucleus (neuronal and rarely astroglial tau pathology). For the block containing the subthalamic nucleus and thalamus, neuronal tau pathology scores are provided for the subthalamic nucleus and astroglial and oligodendroglial for the thalamus.
We evaluated neuronal (tangles and diffuse cytoplasmic immunoreactivity and threads), astrocytic (tufted astrocytes and other morphologies pooled together), and oligodendroglial (coiled bodies together with threads in the white matter) tau pathologies using a semiquantitative score (none, mild, moderate, severe). The following anatomical regions were examined: The middle frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate, inferior parietal gyrus, superior and middle temporal gyrus, precentral gyrus, and occipital cortex (including the striate, para- and peristriate regions), hippocampus (pyramidal layers and dentate gyrus together), amygdala, the caudate-putamen, globus pallidus, thalamus and subthalamic nucleus (these are in one block), the midbrain tegmentum, substantia nigra, locus coeruleus, pontine base, tegmentum, and inferior olives of the medulla oblongata (together represented here as medulla oblongata for the conditional probability analysis), cerebellar white matter (threads and coiled bodies), and dentate nucleus (neuronal and rarely astroglial tau pathology). For the block containing the subthalamic nucleus and thalamus, neuronal tau pathology scores are provided for the subthalamic nucleus and astroglial and oligodendroglial for the thalamus.
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