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(American Journal of Pathology. 1999;155:1459-1466.)
© 1999 American Society for Investigative Pathology


Short Communications

Activation of Caspase-3 in Single Neurons and Autophagic Granules of Granulovacuolar Degeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease

Evidence for Apoptotic Cell Death

Christine Stadelmann*, Thomas L. Deckwerth{dagger}, Anu Srinivasan{dagger}, Christian Bancher{ddagger}, Wolfgang Brück§, Kurt Jellinger and Hans Lassmann*

From the Department of Neuroimmunology,*
Brain Research Institute, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; IDUN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,{dagger}
La Jolla, California; the Department of Neurology,{ddagger}
Lainz Hospital, Vienna, Austria; the Department of Neuropathology,§
University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany; and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Clinical Neurobiology,
Vienna, Austria

Neuronal loss is prominent in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and its mechanisms remain unresolved. Apoptotic cell death has been implicated on the basis of studies demonstrating DNA fragmentation and an up-regulation of proapoptotic proteins in the AD brain. However, DNA fragmentation in neurons is too frequent to account for the continuous neuronal loss in a degenerative disease extending over many years. Furthermore, the typical apoptotic morphology has not been convincingly documented in AD neurons with fragmented DNA. We report the detection of the activated form of caspase-3, the central effector enzyme of the apoptotic cascade, in AD and Down’s syndrome (DS) brain using an affinity-purified antiserum. In AD and DS, single neurons with apoptotic morphology showed cytoplasmic immunoreactivity for activated caspase-3, whereas no neurons were labeled in age-matched controls. Apoptotic neurons were identified at an approximate frequency of 1 in 1100 to 5000 neurons in the cases examined. Furthermore, caspase-3 immunoreactivity was detected in granules of granulovacuolar degeneration. Our results provide direct evidence for apoptotic neuronal death in AD with a frequency compatible with the progression of neuronal degeneration in this chronic disease and identify autophagic vacuoles of granulovacuolar degeneration as possible means for the protective segregation of early apoptotic alterations in the neuronal cytoplasm.





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