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56. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e. V. (DGNC)
3èmes journées françaises de Neurochirurgie (SFNC)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e. V.
Société Française de Neurochirurgie

07. bis 11.05.2005, Strasbourg

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Reappearance of radial glial cells in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy correlates with the degree of granule cell dispersion

Wiederauftreten von Radialgliazellen im Gyrus dentatus von Patienten mit Temporallappenepilepsie korreliert mit dem Ausmaß der Körnerzelldispersion

Meeting Abstract

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  • G. Kann - Institut für Anatomie und Zellbiologie I, Universitätsklinikum, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg
  • corresponding author T. Freiman - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universitätsklinikum, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg
  • J. Zentner - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universitätsklinikum, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg
  • M. Frotscher - Institut für Anatomie und Zellbiologie I, Universitätsklinikum, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg
  • C. A. Haas - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universitätsklinikum, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Société Française de Neurochirurgie. 56. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e.V. (DGNC), 3èmes journées françaises de Neurochirurgie (SFNC). Strasbourg, 07.-11.05.2005. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2005. DocP011

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgnc2005/05dgnc0279.shtml

Published: May 4, 2005

© 2005 Kann et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

Text

Objective

Granule cell dispersion (GCD) in the dentate gyrus is a characteristic feature of Ammon's horn sclerosis (AHS) which often accompanies temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) in humans. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of GCD. One hypothesis postulates a local migration defect during hippocampal development which is supported by a local reelin deficiency associated with GCD in hippocampi of TLE patients. Since radial glial cells provide a scaffold for migrating neurons during development, the occurrence of radial glial cells was investigated.

Methods

Hippocampal specimens of TLE patients with AHS were processed for immunocytochemistry and Golgi-Silver-Impregnation.

Results

Immunocytochemistry for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) revealed a dense, radially aligned network of GFAP-immunopositive fibres in the granule cell layer of epileptic patients, but not in control hippocampi. The length of stained fibres was determined and the width of the granule cell layer (GCL) was measured in adjacent Nissl-stained sections of human hippocampi obtained by neurosurgery (n=10) and by autopsy (n=5). We found that the degree of granule cell dispersion was directly correlated to an increased length of radial glial fibres. In controls and in hippocampi from patients with mild GCD, GFAP-positive radial glial cells displayed short and less developed fibres. In addition, similar results were obtained by Golgi-impregnation: in control hippocampi only normal astrocytes were found, whereas in TLE specimen astrocytes were visualised which displayed long, radial processes in the area of dispersion.

Conclusions

These results suggest that granule cells in the dentate gyrus of TLE patients may use radial glial cells as guiding structures for migration, thereby contributing to the pathology of granule cell dispersion.