Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology

AIM: The functions of the interlaminar astrocytes in layer I of the human cortex are currently unknown. Here, we aimed to explore whether there is any morphological remodelling of interlaminar astrocytes in layer I of the temporal cortex in epilepsy. METHODS: Tissues were obtained from 17 epilepsy surgery patients and 17 post-mortem age-matched controls. In addition, 10 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and 10 age-matched controls were used as the disease control group...

The childhood brain tumour medulloblastoma is typically classified into multiple discrete molecular subgroups with characteristic DNA methylation and expression patterns. Several of these subgroups are used as, or proposed to be, an effective basis for treatment stratification. Here, we highlight the close connection between the findings described in a recent series of studies which, together, strongly imply a continuous association between survival outcome, the transcriptional profile of a Group3/Group4 (i...

AIMS: Selective neuronal vulnerability of hippocampal Cornu Ammonis (CA)-1 neurons is a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) with an unknown underlying mechanism. We interrogated the expression of Tuberous Sclerosis Complex-1 (TSC1; hamartin) and mTOR-related proteins in hippocampal CA1 and CA3 subfields. METHODS: A human post-mortem cohort of mild (n=7) and severe (n=10) AD and non-neurological controls (n=9) was used for quantitative and semi-quantitative analyses...

BACKGROUND: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterised by a progressive loss of upper and lower motor neurons leading to muscle weakness and eventually death. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) presents clinically with significant behavioural decline. Approximately 10% of cases have a known family history and disease-linked mutations in multiple genes have been identified in FTD and ALS. More recently, ALS and FTD-linked variants have been identified in the CCNF gene, which accounts for an estimated 0...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to report the association of focal myositis (FM) and Behçet's disease (BD), and to analyse the main characteristics of such an association. METHODS: Retrospective multicentre study of patients with BD and FM (BD+FM+ group) and those without FM (BD-FM+ group). Clinical, laboratory, radiological, pathological, treatment, and outcome data were analysed. RESULTS: The BD+FM+ group included 10 patients; the median [IQR] age at BD diagnosis was 25 [16-35] years, and at FM diagnosis, it was 30 [26-42] years...

AIMS: How and why lymphoma cells home to the central nervous system and vitreoretinal compartment in primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the central nervous system remain unknown. Our aim was to create an in vivo model to study lymphoma cell tropism to the central nervous system. METHODS: We established a patient-derived central nervous system lymphoma xenograft mouse model and characterised xenografts derived from 4 primary and 4 secondary central nervous system lymphoma patients using immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry and nucleic acid sequencing technology...

AIMS: We examined major protein components of Schwann cells (SC) and myelin in normal and diseased human peripheral nerves. METHODS: We evaluated distributions of neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), P0 protein (P0), and myelin basic protein (MBP) in frozen sections of 98 sural nerves. RESULTS: Non-myelinating SC in normal adults, contained NCAM, but not P0 or MBP. With chronic axon loss, SC without associated axons (Büngner band cells) often co-stained for both NCAM and P0...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

According to the instructions for authors, short communications should be published without abstract.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

AIMS: Glioneuronal tumours (GNTs) are poorly distinguished by their histology and lack robust diagnostic indicators. Previously, we showed that common GNTs comprise two molecularly distinct groups, correlating poorly with histology. To refine diagnosis, we constructed a methylation-based model for GNT classification, subsequently evaluating standards for molecular stratification by methylation, histology and radiology. METHODS: We comprehensively analysed methylation, radiology and histology for 83 GNT samples: a training cohort of 49, previously classified into molecularly defined groups by genomic profiles, plus a validation cohort of 34...

AIMS: Many patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) suffer from cognitive impairment affecting memory, processing speed, and attention, and suffer from depressive symptoms. Since some of these manifestations could trace back to the hippocampus, several magnetic resonance imaging studies have been performed in the past, with a number of groups describing volume loss of the hippocampus in NMOSD patients, while others did not observe such changes. Here, we addressed these discrepancies...

The European Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3/Machado-Joseph Disease Initiative (ESMI) is a consortium established with the ambition to set up the largest European longitudinal trial-ready cohort of Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3/Machado Joseph disease (SCA3/MJD), the most common autosomal dominantly inherited ataxia worldwide. A major focus of ESMI has been the identification of SCA3/MJD biomarkers to enable future interventional studies. As biosample collection and processing variables significantly impact the outcomes of biomarkers studies, biosampling procedures standardization was done previously to study visit initiation...

BACKGROUND: Early non-motor features including anxiety, depression and altered social cognition are present in Huntington's disease (HD). The underlying neurobiological mechanisms are not known. Oxytocin (OXT) is involved in the regulation of emotion, social cognition, and metabolism and our previous work showed that the OXT system is affected early in HD. The aim of the study was to investigate the potential causal relationship between the selective expression of mutant huntingtin (mHTT) in OXT neurons and the development of non-motor features and neuropathology...

AIMS: Muscleblind-Like 2 (MBNL2) plays a crucial role in regulating alternative splicing during development and mouse loss of MBNL2 recapitulates brain phenotypes in myotonic dystrophy (DM). However, the mechanisms underlying DM neuropathogenesis during brain development remain unclear. In this study, we aim to investigate the impact of MBNL2 elimination on neuronal development by Mbnl2 conditional knockout (CKO) mouse models. METHODS: To create Mbnl2 knockout neurons, cDNA encoding Cre-recombinase was delivered into neural progenitors of Mbnl2flox/flox mouse brains by in utero electroporation...

AIMS: Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are autoimmune inflammatory disorders leading to skeletal muscle weakness and disability. The pathophysiology of IIM is poorly understood due to the scarcity of animal disease models. Genetic deletion of Icos or Icosl (Inducible T-cell co-stimulator deficient/ligand) in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice leads to muscle disease. Our aim was to characterise Icos-/- NOD myopathy and to search for novel autoantibodies (aAbs) in this model. METHODS: Diabetes, weight, myopathy incidence/clinical score and grip strength were assessed over time...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

AIMS: Muscle biopsy techniques range from needle muscle biopsy (NMB) and conchotome biopsy to open surgical biopsy. It is unknown whether specific biopsy techniques offer superior diagnostic yield or differ in procedural complication rates. Therefore, we aimed to compare the diagnostic utility of NMB, conchotome and open muscle biopsies in the assessment of neuromuscular disorders. METHODS: A systematic literature review of the EMBASE and Medline (Ovid) databases was performed to identify original, full-length research articles that described the muscle biopsy technique used to diagnose neuromuscular disease in both adult and paediatric patient populations...

Cerebral microvascular disease (MVD) is an important cause of vascular cognitive impairment. MVD is heterogeneous in aetiology, ranging from universal ageing to the sporadic (hypertension, sporadic cerebral amyloid angiopathy [CAA] and chronic kidney disease) and the genetic (e.g., familial CAA, cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy [CADASIL] and cerebral autosomal recessive arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy [CARASIL]). The brain parenchymal consequences of MVD predominantly consist of lacunar infarcts (lacunes), microinfarcts, white matter disease of ageing and microhaemorrhages...

AIMS: Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) is a major cause of drug-resistant paediatric epilepsy and is amenable to successful neurosurgical resection. FCD ILAE Type IIb is the most common FCD subtype, and brain somatic mutations affecting the mTOR pathway play a major pathogenic role. The aim of this study was to comprehensively describe the genotype-phenotype association of 20 patients with histopathologically confirmed FCDIIb using next generation sequencing (NGS) of paired blood-brain samples...