How can brain donation help research into frontotemporal dementia?
There has been considerable progress in understanding the causes of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and related disorders over the past decade with most advances having come from the careful study of brain tissue. Unlike diseases of other organs of the body (such as the liver, gut or kidneys) which can be readily biopsied in life, for brain diseases we have to rely on post mortem tissue, which has been donated by patients or their families. Unlike other neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, people with FTD may have a number of different cellular changes in their brain. These various cellular changes cannot be distinguished during life and instead, diagnosis is achieved by careful examination of the brain following autopsy. Both neurons and their supporting cells (called glia) are damaged in FTD. There is death of these cells and the build up of proteins in the cell can be identified under the microscope. Work on the neuropathology of FTD is contributing to the developmen
