Summary
We examined the primary motor area (PMA, Brodmann area 4) from 23 cases of adult-onset sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with immunocytochemistry using anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein antibody. There was astrocytosis in the middle of the pyramidal cell layer in all cases except for one that did not present any upper motor neuron signs clinically. The astrocytosis was characterized by multiple clusters of astrocytes, some of which showed a close association with macrophages. In about a half of the cases, these multiple clusters of astrocytes became confluent and presented as a laminar astrocytosis in the middle of the pyramidal cell layer. Our studies demonstrate a unique pattern of astrocytosis in the PMA in ALS. This pattern of astrocytosis may be useful not only for diagnostic purposes, but also for a better understanding of the pathological process involving the PMA in ALS.
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The authors wish to dedicate this work to the late Professor Masanori Tomonaga, a former member of the editorial board of this journal and a distinguished teacher and leader in the field of neuropathology
Supported in part by grants-in-aid from the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan and United States Public Health Service grants, NS24453, HD03110, and ES01704. A part of this study was presented at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Neuropathologists (San Francisco, 1990) with an abstract in J Neuropath Exp Neurol (1990) 49:280
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Murayama, S., Inoue, K., Kawakami, H. et al. A unique pattern of astrocytosis in the primary motor area in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Acta Neuropathol 82, 456–461 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00293379
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00293379