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Plaques and tangles in the Alzheimer brain. A section of cerebral cortex from the brain of an individual with severe Alzheimer disease shows typical
plaques and neuro-fibrillary tangles. (Images from James Goldman, reproduced with permission.)
Left: The diagram shows a neuron containing neurofibrillary tangles, composed of bundles of paired-helical filaments in the cell body and more paired
helical filaments in the axon. Amyloid plaques are shown in the neuropil, one of them surrounding a dendrite, which displays an altered, swollen shape.
Tangles are composed of abnormal polymers of hyperphosphorylated tau protein, and amyloid plaques are extracellular deposits of polymers of the
amyloid betaSource:
(A4) peptide.
The Aging Brain, Principles of Neural Science, Fifth Editon
Middle: A section
of
neocortex
from a patient
with Alzheimer
disease
has
been treated
withS.aPrinciples
silver stain.
The tissue
shows
cell Available
bodies
Citation: Kandel
ER, Schwartz
JH, Jessell
TM, Siegelbaum
SA,
Hudspeth
AJ, Mack
of Neural
Science,
Fifthneuronal
Editon; 2012
containing neurofibrillary
tangles
and
neuropil
containing
amyloid
plaques.
at: http://mhmedical.com/ Accessed: August 03, 2017
Right: A higher
magnification
the cortex Education.
shows neurofibrillary
tangles in neuronal cell bodies and, in contrast, a healthy neuron without a tangle. Note
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McGraw-Hill
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the many thin silver-positive cell processes in the neuropil; these are neuronal processes that contain paired helical filaments.