Transgenic Rat Model of Huntington’s Disease: A Histopathological Study and Correlations with Neurodegenerative Process in the Brain of HD Patients
Figure 2
Significant decrease in the size (diameter) of the striatal neurons in a course of the development of NDP is marked by accompanied changes in the diameter of their nuclei, due to the maintenance of the nucleo-cytoplasmic rate. Detection of the β-III-tubulin+ neurofilaments, which fill in the entire cytoplasm of neuronal body and processes, enables to document the shrinkage not only of neuronal nuclei but also of the bodies of neurons, due to either physiological ageing process (a–c) or that caused by the progression of neuronal degeneration in tgHD rats (d–f). The number of GFAP+ astrocyte grows up only slightly in course of ageing (a–c), but significant increase (astrogliosis) is evident in oldest tgHD rats (f). (a) wt—2-month-old, (b) wt—12-month-old, (c) wt—22-month-old, (d) tgHD—6-month-old, (e) tgHD—12-month-old, (f) tgHD—24-month-old rats. Anti-β-III-tubulin (red) + anti-GFAP (green) + DAPI (blue). Bar 20 μm.
