Abstract
It has been suggested that synaptic loss may be the most powerful and proximate factor leading to dementia in a variety of dementing disorders, but whether it occurs in frontal lobe degeneration of non-Alzheimer type (FLD) and to what extent is unknown. To approach this question, quantitative immunohistochemistry with a monoclonal synaptophysin antibody was used in the present study to estimate the synaptic density in postmortem brain tissue. All six cortical layers of four brain regions from 13 cases of FLD and 10 age-matched controls were studied. A significant reduction (40%) in synaptic density restricted to the superficial layers (LI--LIII) was observed in the prefrontal cortex. In contrast, no significant change was found in the postcentral parietal area, inferior temporal area and posterior cingulate gyrus. The reported synaptic loss has a laminar and regional pattern which is consistent with that of other histopathological changes in FLD, one feature thus lending support to the other. The synaptic decrement may be the important change for the symptomatology, and also for the pathogenesis, of FLD.
Published Version
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