TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF NUCLEAR MICROPROBE ANALYSIS OF SENILE PLAQUES FROM ALZHEIMER PATIENTS

Alzheimer's disease, a common form of senile dementia, has been proposed to be caused by aluminium. One of the interesting structures to be studied, senile plaque cores in the brain, have centres of only about 10 μm. We have investigated the possibility of applying nuclear microprobes to sections containing senile plaques. An alternative staining procedure, TMToluidin blue staining using a spray technique, is also presented. An outline is given of a procedure for preparing senile plaque specimens for nuclear microprobe analysis. This includes a technique for accurate ion beam positioning, utilizing electron microscopy-grids. The subject may be of general interest since sample preparation is one of the most important aspects in microprobe analysis of biological matter. © 1990.