01-08-2005 | Case Report
An autopsy case of early (“minimal change”) olivopontocerebellar atrophy (multiple system atrophy-cerebellar)
Published in: Acta Neuropathologica | Issue 2/2005
Login to get accessAbstract
We report a 57-year-old woman with multiple system atrophy (MSA) of 15-month duration. The patient developed dysarthria, followed by impaired balance of gait, mild limb ataxia, and saccadic eye movement. A postmortem examination performed after she was found dead in a bathtub revealed neuronal loss restricted to the olivopontocerebellar system, being more severe in the pontine nucleus. Mild neuronal loss was also found in the anterior vermis and inferior olivary nucleus. α-Synuclein immunohistochemistry demonstrated widespread occurrence of glial cytoplasmic inclusions in the central nervous system, which were more numerous in the pontine base and cerebellar white matter. In contrast, neuronal α-synuclein accumulation was confined to the pontine and inferior olivary nuclei. The number of neuronal intranuclear inclusions was much higher than that of neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions. Moreover, α-synuclein accumulation was more severe in the neurites than in the cytoplasm or nucleus. This case demonstrates the early pattern of brain pathology in MSA-cerebellar (olivopontocerebellar atrophy).