[Changes in neurons of the cerebral cortex in senile dementia]

Using light and electron microscopy, the frontal, temporal and parietal cortical neurons were studied in 10 cases of senile dementia. It was found that along with general age-specific disorders of the ultrastructure of neurons and glial cells (varying degrees of chromatolysis, accumulation of lipofuscin, mitochondrial changes) the examination revealed ultrastructural shifts which might be characteristic of senile dementia. They include rearrangement of nuclear chromatin, destruction of nuclear membrane with the subsequent vacuolization of the nucleus and karyolysis, the appearance of polymorphic fibrillar inclusions in the cytoplasm of neurons and gliocytes, as well as the disappearance of subsuperficial cysterns. Destructive processes were also attended by signs of compensatory changes, i.e. displacement of the nucleolus to the nuclear periphery, the development of desmosomophide contacts at the site of the neuron and glial satellite cell contact, the grouping of cells, and frequent fusion of the adjacent cellular elements.