Measuring the spatial arrangement patterns of pathological lesions in histological sections of brain tissue

Abstract

The development of abnormal protein aggregates in the form of extracellular plaques and intracellular inclusions is a characteristic feature of many neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and the fronto-temporal dementias (FTD). An important aspect of a pathological protein aggregate is its spatial topography in the tissue. Lesions may not be randomly distributed within a histological section but exhibit spatial pattern, a departure from randomness either towards regularity or clustering. Information on the spatial pattern of a lesion may be useful in elucidating its pathogenesis and in studying the relationships between different lesions. This article reviews the methods that have been used to study the spatial topography of lesions. These include simple tests of whether the distribution of a lesion departs significantly from random using randomized points or sample fields, and more complex methods that employ grids or transects of contiguous fields and which can detect the intensity of aggregation and the sizes, distribution and spacing of the clusters. The usefulness of these methods in elucidating the pathogenesis of protein aggregates in neurodegenerative disease is discussed.

Divisions: College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Optometry > Optometry
College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Optometry > Optometry & Vision Science Research Group (OVSRG)
College of Health & Life Sciences
College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Optometry > Vision, Hearing and Language
Additional Information: Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike International 4.0
Uncontrolled Keywords: spatial topography,neurodegenerative disease,protein aggregate,clustering,poisson distribution,variance,mean ratio,Pathology and Forensic Medicine,Neuroscience(all),Clinical Neurology
Publication ISSN: 1509-572X
Last Modified: 27 Mar 2024 08:08
Date Deposited: 11 Mar 2019 17:39
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
https://www.ter ... 0,7175,1,1.html (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2006
Authors: Armstrong, Richard A. (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-5046-3199)

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