A comparative study of a silver stain and monoclonal antibody reactions on Alzheimer's neurofibrillary tangles

Serial sections of brains of eight cases with Alzheimer's disease were stained by methods utilising silver and three different monoclonal antibodies. The numbers of Alzheimer's neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) were counted in the silver stained sections and compared with the numbers detected by three monoclonal anti-NF antibodies: RT97, BF10 and 8D8. The monoclonal antibody (Mab) BF10 demonstrated NFTs more clearly than Mab 8D8, but neither detected as many tangles as the silver staining method. Mab RT97 reacted well with NFTs in freshly processed specimens but not following prolonged fixation.