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Fig. 2 | Acta Neuropathologica Communications

Fig. 2

From: Neuropathology of SCA34 showing widespread oligodendroglial pathology with vacuolar white matter degeneration: a case study

Fig. 2

Microscopic observation of the pons and cerebellum from an autopsy case with SCA34. a Semi-macroscopic view of the pons after Klüver-Barrera (KB) staining. Arrowheads indicate severe atrophy of the pontine base. An arrow indicates demyelination of the transverse fibers. b Transverse fibers between the medial lemniscus and pyramidal tract showed severe degeneration (magnified from the rectangle area in a). c Further magnified view of the transverse fibers between the medial lemniscus and pyramidal tract (magnified from the rectangle area in B). Very scarce and degenerated fibers were observed. d, e, and f After KB (d and e) and Hematoxylin–Eosin (HE) (f) staining, the most ventral part of the pontine base also showed severe degeneration of pontocerebellar fibers and neuronal loss. Cells with irregular shaped dense nuclei and violet cytoplasm after KB staining as shown in e (magnified from the rectangle area in d) or pale gray after HE staining (arrows in f and magnified in its inset) were observed. g and h immunostaining for CD68. Strongly CD68-positive cells were widespread (white and black arrowheads in g) in the pontine base, excluding the pyramidal tracts. These cells occasionally accumulated around the vasculature (white arrowheads in g and h). h is a magnified view from the rectangle in g. The inset in H illustrates a magnified view from the rectangular area in the center. i The cytoplasm of the CD68-positive cells was positively stained with periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) (arrowheads). V denotes vessels. j Double staining with PAS (red) and anti-CD68 (brown) illustrates co-staining for PAS and CD68 in the same cells (arrowheads). The double-staining is shown as a dark-brown color, except for wall of the vasculature, which only stained for PAS. k These macrophages were positive for Gallyas silver impregnation method. L Semi-macroscopic view of the cerebellum showing white matter atrophy and mild and uneven demyelination (arrow). Scale bar = 5 mm (a and l), 500 μm (b, d, and g), 100 μm (c, f, h, and k), 50 μm (e and l), and 20 μm (j)

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