Fig. 3

Coronal in vivo [F-18]-AV-1451 PET images (a, left), matching autopsy tissue blocks (a, right), representative images of SDD-AGE membranes stained with total tau and PHF-1 antibodies (b), and correlation analyses between in vivo SUVR retention values and postmortem LMW and HMW tau levels in matching ROIs (c) from the PD case. Numbers displayed on PET images and graphs correspond to matching ROIs. As expected, levels of total tau and phosphorylated tau, particularly in the form of HMW species, were substantially much lower in the PD case in comparison to AD brain tissue (b). No significant correlation was detected between in vivo [F-18]-AV-1451 signal and postmortem measurements of total tau and phospho-tau species (c). Numbers correspond to the following anatomical regions: #1 = anterior cingulate, #2 = medial frontal, #3 = inferior frontal, #4 = frontal white matter, #5 = caudate, #6 = putamen, # 7 = superior temporal, #8 = inferior temporal, # 9 = middle frontal, #10 = occipital, #11 = cerebellar cortex, #12 = HPC/EC and #13 = substantia nigra. Abbreviations: EC = entorhinal cortex, HPC = hippocampus, HMW = high molecular weight; LMW = low molecular weight; NFT = neurofibrillary tangles; PD = Parkinson’s disease; PET = positron emission tomography; ROI = region of interest; SDD-AGE = semi-denaturing detergent agarose gel electrophoresis; SUVR = standardized uptake value ratio