Recent progress of the Golgi technique and electron microscopy to examine dendritic pathology in Alzheimer's disease

摘要

Some old methods, frequently used in neuro-pathology in the past, remain to be important in attempting to proceed to detailed morphometric estimations and morphological descriptions of neurons, axons, dendrites and neuronal circuits in health and disease. The silver impregnation technique is a very efficient method for visualizing whole neurons and neuronal circuits in a pictorial appearance. The technique, which is more than 100 years old, was introduced by Golgi as 'reazione nerd (black reaction) and was applied extensively by Ramon y Cajal in describing many types of neurons in the brain; he documented the fascinating appearance of the neuronal circuits in the histological organization of the nervous system in his 'neuronal doctrine' . For many years, the Golgi method has been considered to be the classical technique for the precise description of neurons, since it delineates the profile of neurons and dendritic ramifications with unique clarity, which displays the dendritic arborization completely. Gradually, the term 'Golgi technique' has started to refer to a group of heavy metal impregnation methods that rely on preparation of neural tissue with potassium dichromate. Several modifications of this technique have been introduced by various laboratories, such as the modified Golgi stain, rapid Golgi technique, modified Golgi-Cox method, Golgi-Braitenberg method and many others, which have contributed to optimizing the quality of impregnation, making staining faster, easier, brighter, richer, less patchy and evenly dispersed.