Concerning Kuru plaques alias ‘cactus’, ‘stellate’, ‘hairy’ or ‘asteroid’ bodies

Abstract

Klatzo, Gadusek and Zigas described nodular swellings of dendrites of Purkinje cells in their study of the neuropathology of Kuru as ‘the presence of remarkable plaque‐like structures’ (Laboratory Invest 1959; 8: 799). Henceforth these structures were named ‘Kuru plaques’ and were considered to be specific or nearly specific for Kuru. However, this is not quite the case. Such plaques or bodies had been described and profusely illustrated in animal and human neurological diseases by Cajal (1907, 1911, 1926), Nageotte and Leon‐Kindberg (1908, 1910), Hechst (1929), Von Santha (1930), Norman (1940), Hunter and Russell (1954) and Fowler and Robertson (also in 1959), among others. They were variously named as cactus, stellate, asteroid or hairy bodies. In 1963, Friede referred to these bodies and axonal torpedoes as ‘nonspecific injury responses’. This presentation is a review of the literature concerning these bodies. Their history illustrates Raymond Garcin's observation: ‘Tout àétéécrit mais pas tout àété lu’ (everything has been written but not everything has been read).