Parashchenko A.*, Siamionik I.*, Korneeva M.*, Rjabceva S.*, Nedzvedz M.**, Guzov S.**
*Centre of electron and light microscopy ,Institute of physiology of National academy of science of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus
**Department of Pathology, Belarusian State Medical University, Minsk, Belarus
Toufik’s Medical Journal
Volume 1, Supplement 1, November 2021
Abstract from Biomedical Perspectives III
Introduction: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a highly heterogeneous disease, and the most frequent cause of cognitive decline. Recent findings have attributed a major role to nonneuronal cells in disease onset and progresion.
Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the astrocytes cell density (ACD) and astrocytes cell body area (ACBA) in cortical layer I, III and V of brain of patient with Alzheimer’s disease.
Materials and methods: A postmortem examination of the neocortex of frontal and temp lobes of patients (1 patient with Alzheimer’s disease and 4 patients without brain diseases) was done. The immunohistochemical marker GFAP was used. The count glial cell (at least 100 cells in each cortical layer) in non-overlapping fields at high power magnification (x400) was performed. The area of one field was 66585.8 mm2. ACD and ACBA was analyzed using ImageJ. The non-parametric Mann-Withey test was done.
Results: The age of patients with AD was 67 years. The average age of patients of second group was 62.5±6.0 years (p=0.56). The ACD in cortical layer I in patient with AD was increased by 2.4 times (298.40 [238.72;343/16] cells/mm2 versus 126.82 [104.44;149.20] cells/mm2, p=0.0000), in cortical layer III – by 2.5 times (149.20 [134.28;149.20] cells/mm2 versus 59.68 [44.79;59.68] cells/mm2, p=0.0240) and in cortical layer V – by 1.7 times (149.20 [119.36;179.04] cells/mm2 versus 89.52 [44.76;119.36] cells/mm2, p=0.0000) compared to patients without this disease. The ACBA in cortical layer I in patients with AD was increased by 1.3 times (65.19[52.17;80.34] µm2 versus 51.72 [41.67;64.66] µm2, p=0.0000), in cortical layer V – by 1.5 times (64.80 [52.30;73.80] µm2 versus 43.86 [35.61;55.70] µm2, p=0.0000) compared to patients without this disease. The ACBA in cortical layer III in patients of two group was not differ (58.10 [48.00;71.60] µm2 and 55.39 [44.96;67.65] µm2, p=0.41).
Conclusions: Reactive changes in astrocytes in patients with AD were characterized by cell proliferation in cortical layers I, III and V, hypertrophy of interlaminar (cortical layer I) and protoplasmic astrocytes (cortical layer V).