Summary
A histopathological study was carried out on the brains of eight ex-boxers (ages 56 to 83) using conventional histological staining methods and immunocytochemistry with antibodies to amyloid β-protein and the PHF-related tau protein. All cases showed a large number of tau-immunoreactive neurofibrillary tangles and also β-protein immunoreactive senile plaques in the cortex. In the areas with many neurofibrillary tangles, neuropil threads with tau-immunoreactivity were also observed, and some of the senile plaque lesions were surrounded by abnormal neurites with tau-immunoreactivity. Moreover, three cases revealed β-protein-type cerebrovascular amyloid deposits on both leptomeningeal and cortical blood vessels. The present observations indicate that the cerebral pathology of dementia pugilistica is very similar to that of Alzheimer's disease and suggest that these two disorders share some common etiological and pathogenic mechanisms.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Allsop D, Landon M, Kidd M, Lowe JS, Reynolds GP, Gardner A (1986) Monoclonal antibodies raised against a subsequence of senile plaque core protein react with plaque cores, plaque periphery and cerebrovascular amyloid in Alzheimer's disease. Neurosci Lett 68:252–256
Allsop D, Haga S, Bruton C, Ishii T, Roberts GW (1990) Neurofibrillary tangles in some cases of dementia pugilistica share antigens with amyloid β-protein of Alzheimer's disease. Am J Pathol 136:255–260
Braak H, Braak E (1988) Neuropil threads occur in dendrites of tangle-bearing nerve cells. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 14:39–44
Braak H, Braak E, Grundke-Iqbal I, Iqbal K (1986) Occurrence of neuropil threads in the senile human brains and in Alzheimer's disease: a third localization of paired helical filaments outside of neurofibrillary tangles and neuritic plaques. Neurosci Lett 65:351–355
Castaño EM, Frangione B (1988) Human amyloidosis, Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. Lab Invest 58:122–132
Claude H, Cuel J (1939) Démence pré-sénile post-traumatique après fracture du crane: cosidérations médico-légales. Ann Med Leg 19:173–184
Clinton J, Ambler MW, Roberts GW (1991) Post traumatic Alzheimer's disease: preponderance of a single plaque type. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 17:69–74
Coria F, Castaño EM, Frangione B (1987) Brain amyloid in normal aging and cerebral amyloid angiopathy is antigenically related to Alzheimer's disease β-protein. Am J Pathol 129:422–428
Coria F, Prelli F, Castaño EM, Larrondo-Lillo M, Fernandez-Gonzalez J, van Duinen SG, Bots GTAM, Luyendijk W, Shelanski ML, Frangione B (1988) β-protein deposition: a pathogenetic link between Alzheimer's disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathies. Brain Res 463:187–191
Corsellis JAN, Brierley JB (1959) Observations on the pathology of insidious dementia following head injury. J Ment Sci 105:714–720
Corsellis JAN, Bruton CJ, Freeman-Browne D (1973) The aftermath of boxing. Psychol Med 3:270–303
Critchley M (1957) Medical aspects of boxing, particularly from a neurological standpoint. Br Med J 1:357–366
Crystal H, Dickson D, Fuld P, Masur D, Scott R, Mehler M, Masdeu J, Kawas C, Aronson M, Wolfson L (1988) Clinicopathologic studies in dementia: nondemented subjects with pathologically confirmed Alzheimer's disease. Neurology 38:1682–1687
Dale GE, Leigh PN, Luthert P, Anderton BH, Roberts GW (1991) Neurofibrillary tangles in dementia pugilistica are ubiquitinated. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 54:116–118
Dayan AD (1970) Quantitative histological studies on the aged human brain. I. Senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in “normal patients”. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 16:85–94
Glenner GG (1989) The pathobiology of Alzheimer's disease. Ann Rev Med 40:45–51
Glenner GG, Wong CW (1984) Alzheimer's disease: initial report of the purification and characterization of a novel cerebrovascular amyloid protein. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 120:885–890
Glenner GG, Wong CW, Quaranta V, Eanes ED (1984) The amyloid deposits in Alzheimer's disease: their nature and pathogenesis. Appl Pathol 2:357–369
Heyman A, Wilkinson WE, Stafford JA, Helms MJ, Sigmon AH, Weinberg T (1984) Alzheimer's disease: a study of epidemiological aspects. Ann Neurol 15:335–341
Hollander D, Strich SJ (1970) Atypical Alzheimer's disease with congophilic angiopathy, presenting with dementia of acute onset. In: Wolstenholme GEW, O'-Connor M (eds) Alzheimer's disease and related conditions. Churchill, London, pp 105–124
Ihara Y (1988) Massive somatodendritic sprouting of cortical neurons in Alzheimer's disease. Brain Res 459:138–144
Ikeda S, Allsop D, Glenner GG (1989) Morphology and distribution of plaque and related deposits in the brains of Alzheimer's disease and control cases. An immunohistochemical study using amyloid β-protein antibody. Lab Invest 60:113–122
Ikeda S, Yanagisawa N, Allsop D, Glenner GG (1990) Early senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease demonstrated by histochemistry, immunocytochemistry and electron microscopy. Hum Pathol 21:1221–1226
Joachim CL, Duffy LK, Morris JH, Selkoe DJ (1988) Protein chemical and immunocytochemical studies of meningovascular β-amyloid protein in Alzheimer's disease and normal aging. Brain Res 474:100–111
Johnson J (1960) Organic psychosyndromes due to boxing. Br J Psychiatry 115:45–53
Kang J, Lemaire H-G, Unterbeck A, Salbaum JM, Masters CL, Grzeschik K-H, Multhaup G, Beyreuther K, Müller-Hill B (1987) The precursor of Alzheimer's disease amyloid A4 protein resembles a cell-surface receptor. Nature 325:733–736
Kidd M (1963) Paired helical filaments in electron microscopy of Alzheimer's disease. Nature 197:192–193
Kitamoto T, Ogomori K, Tateishi J, Prusiner SB (1987) Formic acid pretreatment enhances immunostaining of cerebral and systemic amyloids. Lab Invest 57:230–236
Kowall NW, Kosik KS (1987) Axonal disruption and aberrant localization of tau protein characterize the neuropil pathology of Alzheimer's disease. Ann Neurol 22:639–643
Löfberg H, Grubb AO, Nilsson EK, Jensson O, Gudmundsson G, Blöndal H, Arnason A, Thorsteinsson L (1987) Immunohistochemical characterization of the amyloid deposits and quantitation of pertinent cerebrospinal fluid proteins in hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis. Stroke 18:431–440
Martland HS (1928) Punch drunk. JAMA 91:1103–1107
Masters CL, Multhaup G, Simms G, Pottgiesser J, Martins RN, Beyreuther K (1985) Neuronal origin of a cerebral amyloid: neurofibrillary tangles of Alzheimer's disease contain the same protein as the amyloid of plaque cores and blood vessels. EMBO J 4:2757–2763
Mortimer JA, French LR, Hutton JT, Schuman LM (1985) Head injury as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Neurology 35:264–267
Papasozomenos SC (1989) Tau protein immunoreactivity in dementia of the Alzheimer type. I. Morphology, evolution, distribution, and pathogenetic implications. Lab Invest 60:123–137
Probst A, Anderton BH, Brion J-P, Ulrich J (1989) Senile plaque neurites fail to demonstrate anti-paired helical filament and anti-microtubule-associated protein-tau immunoreactive proteins in the absence of neurofibrillary tangles in the neocortex. Acta Neuropathol 77:430–436
Roberts GW (1988) Immunocytochemistry of neurofibrillary tangles in dementia pugilistica and Alzheimer's disease: evidence for common genesis. Lancet ii: 1456–1458
Roberts GW, Allsop D, Bruton C (1990) The occult aftermath of boxing. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 53:373–378
Roberts GW, Whitwell HL, Acland PR, Bruton CJ (1990) Dementia in a punch-drunk wife. Lancet 335:918–919
Rudelli R, Strom JO, Welch MD, Ambler MW (1982) Posttraumatic premature Alzheimer's disease: neuropathologic findings and pathogenetic considerations. Arch Neurol 39:570–575
Spillantini MG, Goedert M, Jakes R, Klug A (1990) Topographical relationship between β-amyloid and tau protein epitopes in tangle-bearing cells in Alzheimer disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 87:3952–3956
Strich SJ, Oxon DM (1961) Shearing of nerve fibers as a cause of brain damage due to head injury. Lancet ii: 443–448
Tabaton M, Mandybur TI, Perry G, Onorato M, Autilio-Gambetti L, Gambetti P (1989) The widespread alteration of neurites in Alzheimer's disease may be unrelated to amyloid deposition. Ann Neurol 26:771–778
Tomlinson BE, Blessed G; Roth M (1968) Observations on the brains of non-demented old people. Neurol Sci J 7:331–356
Tomonaga M (1981) Cerebral amyloid angiopathy in the elderly. J Am Geriatr Soc 29:151–157
Vinters HV, Gilbert JJ (1983) Cerebral amyloid angiopathy: incidence and complications in the aging brain. II. The distribution of amyloid vascular changes. Stroke 14:924–928
Wisniewski HM, Narang HK, Corsellis JAN, Terry RD (1976) Ultrastructural studies of the neuropil and neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer's disease and post-traumatic dementia. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 35:367
Yamaguchi H, Hirai S, Morimatsu M, Shoji M, Ihara Y (1988) A variety of cerebral amyloid deposits in the brains of the Alzheimer-type dementia demonstrated by β protein immunostaining. Acta Neuropathol 76:541–549
Yamaguchi H, Nakazato Y, Shoji M, Ihara Y, Hirai S (1990) Ultrastructure of the neuropil threads in the Alzheimer brain: their dendritic origin and accumulation in the senile plaques. Acta Neuropathol 80:368–374
Yamaguchi H, Nakazato Y, Shoji M, Okamoto K, Ihara Y, Morimatsu M, Hirai S (1991) Secondary deposition of beta amyloid within extracellular neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer-type dementia. Am J Pathol 138:699–705
Yamamoto T, Hirano A (1986) A comparative study of modified Bielschowsky, Bodian and thioflavin S stains on Alzheimer's neurofibrillary tangles. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 12:3–9
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by grants from the Intractable Disease Division, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Primary Amyloidosis Research Committee and Kanae Foundation of New Medicine, and a grant-in-aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tokuda, T., Ikeda, S., Yanagisawa, N. et al. Re-examination of ex-boxers' brains using immunohistochemistry with antibodies to amyloid β-protein and tau protein. Acta Neuropathol 82, 280–285 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308813
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308813