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Kovács GG, Head MW, Hegyi I, Bunn TJ, Flicker H, Hainfellner JA, McCardle L, László L, Jarius C, Ironside JW, Budka H. Immunohistochemistry for the prion protein: comparison of different monoclonal antibodies in human prion disease subtypes. Brain Pathol 2006; 12:1-11. [PMID: 11770893 PMCID: PMC8095765 DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-3639.2002.tb00417.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Demonstration of the abnormal form of the prion protein (PrP) in the brain confirms the diagnosis of human prion disease (PrD). Using immunohistochemistry, we have compared ten monoclonal antibodies in PrD subtypes including sporadic and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), fatal familial insomnia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and control brains. CJD subgroups were determined using Western blot analysis for the protease-resistant PrP type in combination with sequencing to determine the genotype at the methionine/valine polymorphism at codon 129 of the prion protein gene. None of the antibodies labeled given subgroups exclusively, but the intensity of immunoreactivity varied among morphologically distinct types of deposit. Fine granular or synaptic PrP deposits stained weakly or not at all with antibodies against the N-terminus of PrP, and were visible in one case only with 12F10 and SAF54. Coarser and plaque type deposits were immunolabeled with all antibodies. The immunostaining patterns appear characteristic for the disease subgroups. Labeling of certain neurons in all cases irrespective of disease, and staining at the periphery and/or throughout the senile plaques of AD patients were also noted. Antibodies such as 6H4 and 12F10 failed to give this type of labeling and are therefore less likely to recognise non-pathological PrP material in immunohistochemistry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gábor G. Kovács
- Institute of Neurology, University of Vienna, and Austrian Reference Centre for Human Prion Diseases, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Neurology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Mark W. Head
- National CJD Surveillance Unit and Department of Pathology, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Ivan Hegyi
- Institute of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Tristan J. Bunn
- National CJD Surveillance Unit and Department of Pathology, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Helga Flicker
- Institute of Neurology, University of Vienna, and Austrian Reference Centre for Human Prion Diseases, Vienna, Austria
| | - Johannes A. Hainfellner
- Institute of Neurology, University of Vienna, and Austrian Reference Centre for Human Prion Diseases, Vienna, Austria
| | - Linda McCardle
- National CJD Surveillance Unit and Department of Pathology, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Lajos László
- Department of General Zoology, Eötvös University of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Christa Jarius
- Institute of Neurology, University of Vienna, and Austrian Reference Centre for Human Prion Diseases, Vienna, Austria
| | - James W. Ironside
- National CJD Surveillance Unit and Department of Pathology, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Herbert Budka
- Institute of Neurology, University of Vienna, and Austrian Reference Centre for Human Prion Diseases, Vienna, Austria
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Unterberger U, Höftberger R, Gelpi E, Flicker H, Budka H, Voigtländer T. Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Features Are Prominent in Alzheimer Disease but Not in Prion Diseases In Vivo. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 2006; 65:348-57. [PMID: 16691116 DOI: 10.1097/01.jnen.0000218445.30535.6f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 174] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Prion diseases and Alzheimer disease (AD) share a variety of clinical and neuropathologic features (e.g. progressive dementia, accumulation of abnormally folded proteins in diseased tissue, and pronounced neuronal loss) as well as pathogenic mechanisms like generation of oxidative stress molecules and complement activation. Recently, it was suggested that neuronal death in AD may have its origin in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Cellular stress conditions can interfere with protein folding and subsequently cause accumulation of unfolded or misfolded proteins in the ER lumen. The ER responds to this by the activation of adaptive pathways, which are termed unfolded protein response (UPR). The UPR transducer PERK, which launches the most immediate response to ER stress (i.e. the transient attenuation of mRNA translation), and the downstream effector of PERK, eIF2alpha, were shown to be activated in AD. We demonstrate that neither in sporadic nor in infectiously acquired or inherited human prion diseases can the activated forms of PERK and eIF2alpha be detected, except when concomitant neurofibrillary pathology is present; whereas the distribution of phosphorylated PERK correlates with abnormally phosphorylated tau in AD. In brains of scrapie-affected mice and mice infected with sporadic or variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, activated PERK is only very faintly expressed. The lack of prominent activation of the PERK-eIF2alpha pathway in prion diseases suggests that, in contrast to AD, ER stress does not play a crucial role in neuronal death in prion disorders.
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Kawamoto Y, Akiguchi I, Kovács GG, Flicker H, Budka H. Increased 14-3-3 immunoreactivity in glial elements in patients with multiple sclerosis. Acta Neuropathol 2004; 107:137-43. [PMID: 14605832 DOI: 10.1007/s00401-003-0785-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2003] [Revised: 09/16/2003] [Accepted: 10/03/2003] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
14-3-3 proteins have been shown to be increased in the cerebrospinal fluid from patients with several kinds of neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS). To investigate whether 14-3-3 proteins are closely related to the pathogenesis of MS, we performed immunohistochemical studies for 14-3-3 in autopsied brains from ten patients with MS, five patients with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), and seven normal control subjects. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections from all cases were immunostained with a specific anti-14-3-3 antibody, and some sections from the MS cases were double-immunostained with antibodies raised against 14-3-3 and glial markers. In the normal control brains, 14-3-3 immunoreactivity was localized mainly in the neuronal somata and processes, and some glial cells showed only weak immunoreactivity. In the plaque lesions from the MS cases, the astrocytes and oligodendrocytes were intensely immunostained, and strong immunoreactivity was also found in some microglia and macrophages, most of which were located in the perivascular areas. In the PML brains, a similar immunolabeling pattern was observed in the demyelinated lesions, in which the astrocytes and oligodendrocytes exhibited dense 14-3-3 immunoreactivity. Our results suggest that 14-3-3 may be up-regulated in the glial cells, especially in astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, in patients with MS or PML. The exaggerated 14-3-3 accumulation in these glial elements may be associated with the pathogenesis of both demyelinating disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasuhiro Kawamoto
- Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin-Kawaharacho, Sakyoku, 606-8507 Kyoto, Japan.
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Kovács GG, Ertsey C, Majtényi C, Jelencsik I, László L, Flicker H, Strain L, Szirmai I, Budka H. Inherited prion disease with A117V mutation of the prion protein gene: a novel Hungarian family. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2001; 70:802-5. [PMID: 11385020 PMCID: PMC1737399 DOI: 10.1136/jnnp.70.6.802] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Three members of a family with inherited prion disease are reported. One additional family member had a progressive neurological disease without details. Two developed symptoms of ataxia, dementia, myoclonus, rigidity, and hemiparesis, and one had a different phenotype with the combination of lower motor neuron deficit, parkinsonism, intellectual decline, and ataxia. In this last patient cell loss of the anterior horn motor neurons and chronic neurogenic muscle atrophy was evident. Immunostaining for the prion protein disclosed unicentric and multicentric plaques, and coarse and fine granular positivity. Genetic analysis of the prion protein gene of the propositus showed a 117 codon alanine to valine mutation and homozygous 129 valine/valine genotype.
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Affiliation(s)
- G G Kovács
- Department of Neurology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
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Voigtländer T, Klöppel S, Birner P, Jarius C, Flicker H, Verghese-Nikolakaki S, Sklaviadis T, Guentchev M, Budka H. Marked increase of neuronal prion protein immunoreactivity in Alzheimer's disease and human prion diseases. Acta Neuropathol 2001; 101:417-23. [PMID: 11484812 DOI: 10.1007/s004010100405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
In neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease (AD), free radical damage to lipids, carbohydrates, proteins and DNA has been demonstrated to play a key pathogenetic role. In vitro studies have suggested a function of the cellular prion protein (PrPc) in the defense against oxidative stress. Therefore, we investigated the distribution of PrPc immunoreactivity in hippocampus (sectors CA4-CA1), subiculum (Sub), entorhinal (EC), and temporal cortex (TC) in sections from AD, human transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) and control brains. Compared to control cases, AD brains revealed an increase in the proportion of PrPc-immunoreactive neurons, which was statistically significant in CA2, Sub, and TC. In TSEs, a statistically significant increase of PrPc-immunoreactive neurons was observed in CA2, CA1, Sub, EC, and TC. In conclusion, our data show a striking up-regulation of PrPc in neurodegeneration and provide additional support for the concept that PrPc may be involved in the defense against oxidative stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Voigtländer
- Institute of Neurology, University of Vienna, Wien, Austria
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Klöppel S, Kovacs GG, Voigtländer T, Wanschitz J, Flicker H, Hainfellner JA, Guentchev M, Budka H. Serotonergic nuclei of the raphe are not affected in human ageing. Neuroreport 2001; 12:669-71. [PMID: 11277560 DOI: 10.1097/00001756-200103260-00010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Sleep disorders increase with ageing. The serotonergic system has been linked with sleep regulation. In fatal familial insomnia, a prion disease with insomnia as one major clinical feature, we recently observed a disturbance in the serotonergic system as likely substrate of typical symptoms. Using immunohistochemistry for the serotonin synthesizing enzyme, tryptophan hydroxylase, we investigated the serotonergic median raphe nuclei (dorsal raphe nucleus, superior central nucleus, and raphe obscurus nucleus) in brains of an older (n = 12; age range 62-84 years) and a younger group (n = 10; age range 5-29 years). We found no significant difference between age groups in the percentage of neurons able to synthesize serotonin. Other changes might relate to sleep disturbances in the elderly.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Klöppel
- Institute of Neurology, University of Vienna, Austria
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Wanschitz J, Klöppel S, Jarius C, Birner P, Flicker H, Hainfellner JA, Gambetti P, Guentchev M, Budka H. Alteration of the serotonergic nervous system in fatal familial insomnia. Ann Neurol 2000; 48:788-91. [PMID: 11079543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
Abstract
Fatal familial insomnia (FFI) is a unique hereditary prion disease with characteristic disturbances of sleep. We studied the serotonergic system in 8 FFI-affected subjects by immunohistochemistry for the serotonin-synthesizing enzyme, tryptophan hydroxylase (TH). Quantification of neurons in median raphe nuclei showed no total neuronal loss in FFI but a substantial increase of TH+ neurons (approximately 62%) in FFI subjects compared with controls. Our data indicate an alteration of the serotonergic system that might represent the functional substrate of some typical symptoms of FFI.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Wanschitz
- Institute of Neurology, University of Vienna, and Austrian Reference Center of Human Prion Diseases
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Guentchev M, Wanschitz J, Voigtländer T, Flicker H, Budka H. Selective neuronal vulnerability in human prion diseases. Fatal familial insomnia differs from other types of prion diseases. Am J Pathol 1999; 155:1453-7. [PMID: 10550300 PMCID: PMC1866964 DOI: 10.1016/s0002-9440(10)65459-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Human transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) or prion diseases are neurodegenerative disorders of infectious, inherited or sporadic origin and include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease (GSS), kuru and fatal familial insomnia (FFI). Clinicopathologic features of FFI differ markedly from other human TSEs. Previous studies demonstrated selective neuronal vulnerability of parvalbumin positive (PV+) GABAergic inhibitory interneurons in sporadic CJD and experimental TSEs. In this report we show uniform severe loss of PV+ neurons also in other TSEs such as GSS, kuru, new variant and familial CJD. In contrast, these neurons are mostly well preserved, or only moderately reduced, in FFI. Only PV+ neurons surrounded by isolectin-B4 positive perineuronal nets were severely affected in TSEs, suggesting a factor residing in this type of extracellular matrix around PV+ neurons as modulator for the selective neuronal vulnerability.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Guentchev
- Institute of Neurology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Reisfeld MJ, Flicker H. The nu(2) band of N(2)O as a frequency standard in the 17-microm region of the infrared. Appl Opt 1979; 18:1136-1138. [PMID: 20208897 DOI: 10.1364/ao.18.001136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
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Radziemski LJ, Begley RF, Flicker H, Nereson NG, Reisfeld MJ. Spectroscopy of (12)CF(4) features near the 9-microm (12)C(16)O(2) R(10), R(12), and R(18) lines by CO(2)-laser and diode-laser spectroscopy. Opt Lett 1978; 3:241-243. [PMID: 19684760 DOI: 10.1364/ol.3.000241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The (12)CF(4) molecule has been made to lase at various wavelengths in the 16-microm v(4) + V(2) ? V(2) band by pumping in the 9-microm 0 ? V(2) + V(4) band with (12)C(16)O(2) lines. The strongest reported (12)CF(4) laser line occurs at 615.06 cm(-1) and is pumped by 9R12 [9-microm band, R(12) line]. We have measured, by two techniques, the absorption of (12)CF(4) in 9R12, and also in 9R10 and 9R18, which are known to result in weak 16-microm laser transitions. This was done both at room temperature and at an estimated 100 K, and striking changes in spectral features were noted as the temperature was lowered. For the 9R12 laser line, we find a (12)CF(4) feature located 30 +/- 3 MHz to the high-frequency side of line center, with a peak absorption coefficient of 5 x 10(-4) to 9 x 10(-4) cm(-1) Torr(-1), depending on temperature. By contrast, there are only weak (12)CF(4) features within +/-40 MHz of the 9R10 and 9R18 laser-line centers, and the absorption coefficients of those features are 1 x 10(-4) to 2 x 10(-4) cm(-1) Torr(-1).
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Flicker H, Aldridge JP, Filip H, Nereson NG, Reisfeld MJ, Weber WH. Wavenumber calibration of tunable diode lasers using etalons. Appl Opt 1978; 17:851-852. [PMID: 20197886 DOI: 10.1364/ao.17.000851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
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Flicker H, Loferski JJ, Scott-Monck J. Radiation Defect Introduction Rates inn- andp-Type Silicon in the Vicinity of the Radiation Damage Threshold. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1962. [DOI: 10.1103/physrev.128.2557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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