Does the neuropathology of human patients with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease reflect haematogenous spread of the disease?
Armstrong RA; Cairns NJ; Ironside JW; Lantos PL Vision Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK. r.a.armstrong@aston.ac.uk To test the hypothesis that the distribution of the pathology in variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) represents haematogenous spread of the disease, we studied the spatial correlation between the vacuolation, prion protein (PrP) deposits, and the blood vessel profiles in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, dentate gyrus, and cerebellum of 11 cases of the disease. In the majority of areas, there were no significant spatial correlations between either the vacuolation or the diffuse type of PrP deposit and the blood vessels. By contrast, a consistent pattern of spatial correlation was observed between the florid PrP deposits and blood vessels mainly in the cerebral cortex. The frequency of positive spatial correlations was similar in different anatomical areas of the cerebral cortex and in the upper compared with the lower laminae. Hence, with the excepti
