Monday, November 12, 2007

More on the JNEN article

I was never clear on exactly which cells contained the glial cell inclusions (GCIs) in Multiple System Atrophy. This article clears that issue up. I quote: "GCIs are faintly eosinophilic, sickle-shaped, oval or conical inclusions that displace the nucleus eccentrically. Their localization to microglia has been established by double staining techniques." There you have it!

1 comment:

Brian E. Moore, MD, MEd said...

This was a mistake by the authors. They cite as their source for this information an article by Burn and Jaros in Mol Pathol (2001);54:419-26. I quote that article: "Argyrophilic oligodendroglial inclusions were first described in the brains of patients with MSA in 1989 and became known as glial cytoplasmic inclusions. 4 Subsequent studies have confirmed the sensitivity and specificity of GCIs for MSA. 5, 21, 49 Double staining techniques using markers for oligodendroglia, such as myelin basic protein, Leu-7, carbonic anhydrase enzyme II, and transferrin, confirm the localisation of the inclusion to this cell type. 49, 50 In contrast, GCI containing cells stain negatively for glial fibrillary acidic protein (an astrocytic marker), and for class II major histocompatibility antigen (a microglial marker)." So the referenced authors are saying the complete opposite of what the JNEN reviewers are saying. Elsewhere in the review article, the authors refer to GCIs being in oligodendroglial cells, so it was just a silly error they made. A trap that I fell into. Now I know the truth!

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