Cockayne's syndrome: report of two autopsy cases associated with neurofibrillary tangles

Neuropathological findings in two patients with Cockayne's syndrome, a rare familial condition with mental retardation, progressive neurological deficits, progeria, and dwarfism, are described. Both patients showed extensive tigroid demyelination of the white matter and massive calcifications in the striatum, pallidum, and dentate nucleus. In one patient, neurofibrillary tangles were found in neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert, locus ceruleus, substantia nigra, and cerebral cortex, while in the other case only a few tangles were seen in the cerebral cortex. Electron microscopy revealed paired helical filaments. The presence of neurofibrillary tangles in Cockayne's syndrome, rarely reported previously, could suggest premature aging of the brain.