Spatial topography of the neurofibrillary tangles in cortical and subcortical regions in progressive supranuclear palsy

Abstract

Objective To study the topography of neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) in cortical and subcortical areas in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Methods Pattern analysis was carried out on tau-positive NFT in eight PSP cases. Results Of the areas studied, NFT were randomly distributed in 68%, regularly distributed in 3%, and clustered in 29%. A regular distribution of clusters was more frequent in cortical than subcortical areas. Conclusion NFT topography in subcortical areas was similar to inclusions in the synucleinopathy multiple system atrophy (MSA) but in cortical areas was comparable to other tauopathies.