The identity of cells expressing MHC class II antigens in normal and pathological human brain

Major histocompatibility complex class II antigen (Ag) expression in human brain was investigated in autopsied human brain tissues, using anti-human class II monoclonal antibodies. In normal brains, class II Ag was usually absent or was low in positivity. When it was found immunohistochemically, it appeared more frequently in the meninges (meningeal macrophages) and the neurohypophysis (pituicytes) than in the cerebral cortex (microglia and perivascular cells). The identity of the latter cell types was confirmed by immunoelectron microscopy. Class II-positive microglial cells were usually present in the cerebral white matter, but in senile brains showing numerous senile plaques, their numbers were increased in the grey matter. In diseased brains, numerous reactive microglia and macrophages containing class II Ag were observed in the affected lesions of neural tissue destruction, neuronal degeneration, and inflammation. Astrocytes, which were identified with an antibody to glial fibrillary acidic protein, did not contain class II Ag, although a small number of reactive astrocytes showed an equivocal class II staining. Staining for class II Ag on cerebral endothelial cells was mostly negative; however, class II Ag was microscopically identified in a case of secondary CNS T-cell lymphoma.