Neuropathology Flashcards
What is Neuropathology?
A subspeciality of histopathology - studying diseases of the NS by observing changes in tissue.
Macro and microscopical appearances in CNS, PNS and muscle.
What is looked at in neuropathology?
Brain tumours
Non tumour conditions - neurodegeneration, cerebrovascular, infections, demyelination…
Muscle and peripheral nerve diseases.
Where do that brain come from in neuropathology?
Biopsies
Post mortem
Advantages of examining human brains and brain tissue
See the actual disease process. Can look at the whole brain.
See relationship between various areas of the brain to the disease process.
Disadvantages of examining human brains and brain tissue
End stage features seen - May be seeing secondary non-specific features that could mask main pathology.
Multiple pathology often present.
It all retrospective.
Types of cases you can see in post mortem brains.
Strokes Trauma Tumours Infections Dymelination Degenerative diseases
What do you do with post mortem brains?
Main autopsy Macroscopic Microscopic Staining Fix half, freeze half.
Genetic works better on…
Fresh tissue
What happens when fixing a brain?
Use formalin to fix and then paraffin to embed into block.
Sliced into 1CM coronal sections, then often cubed. Then stained.
What are you looking for when staining slices in neuropathology?
Look for proteins that are not usually expressed.
Glioblastoma
Malignant primary brain tumour.
Cells are polymorphic. Differing sizes of nucleus, cytoplasm ect.
Fronto-temporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) - where is atrophy?
Atrophy in frontal lobe and frontal temporal lobe.
Huntingtons - where is atrophy?
Atrophy in caudate and putamen = enlarged ventricles
How are diseases diagnosed neuropathologically?
Based on type and distribution of abnormalities in different proteins
How are diseases grouped according to protein abnormality?
Abnormality in Tau = Tauopathy
Abnormality in Synuclein = Synucleinopathy
Often protein hyperphosphorylated and ubiquitinated = neuronal or glial inclusions which we see in immunohistochemistry.
