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Alzheimer's disease. A double-labeling immunohistochemical study of senile plaques
Dickson DW, Farlo J, Davies P, Crystal H, Fuld P, Yen SH.. The American journal of pathology, 1988-07-01
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
The senile plaque is one of the histopathologic changes that characterizes Alzheimer's disease and the aging brain. The histopathology of senile plaques was studied using double-labeling immunohistochemistry and lectin histochemistry with thioflavin S fluorescent microscopy in 9 cases of Alzheimer's disease, 2 nondemented elderly individuals, and 3 individuals with non-Alzheimer primary degenerative dementias. Every plaque that was visualized with thioflavin also had amyloid, but not all thioflavin-positive plaques contained neurites that could be recognized with specific monoclonal antibodies to paired helical filament, tau, or neurofilament epitopes.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Dickson, D. W., Farlo, J., Davies, P., Crystal, H., Fuld, P., & Yen, S. H. (1988). Alzheimer's disease. A double-labeling immunohistochemical study of senile plaques. The American journal of pathology.
Vancouver
Dickson DW, Farlo J, Davies P, Crystal H, Fuld P, Yen SH. Alzheimer's disease. A double-labeling immunohistochemical study of senile plaques. The American journal of pathology. 1988. PMID: 2456021.
BibTeX
@article{dickson1988-2456021,
author = {Dickson, D. W. and Farlo, J. and Davies, P. and Crystal, H. and Fuld, P. and Yen, S. H.},
title = {{Alzheimer's disease. A double-labeling immunohistochemical study of senile plaques}},
journal = {The American journal of pathology},
year = {1988},
pmid = {2456021}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. This record has no DOI, so the citation leaves it out. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- The histopathology of senile plaques was studied using double-labeling immunohistochemistry and lectin histochemistry with thioflavin S fluorescent microscopy in 9 cases of Alzheimer's disease, 2 nondemented elderly individuals, and 3 individuals with non-Alzheimer primary degenerative dementias.
- Every plaque that was visualized with thioflavin also had amyloid, but not all thioflavin-positive plaques contained neurites that could be recognized with specific monoclonal antibodies to paired helical filament, tau, or neurofilament epitopes.
- Some neurofilament-positive neurites were not visualized with thioflavin, but almost all tau-positive neurites were colabeled with thioflavin.
- Microglia were associated with most plaques.
Why it matters
This post-mortem tissue study of senile plaques found that every thioflavin-visualized plaque contained amyloid, but not all contained recognizable neurites. It is a descriptive histopathology study and provides no treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 41/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, so that was left out: it earned 39 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 41 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The American journal of pathology) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 1988 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 6 / 7 | Cited 383 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 9.6 citations a year over 40 year(s) since 1988 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 13.5× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 6 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author S. -H. Yen: h-index 24 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | Albert Einstein College of Medicine: institution h-index 973 (OpenAlex) |
| Multicenter collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 2456021) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 39 / 96 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 39 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 41 out of 100. |
| Total | 41 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
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