Stains for the differential diagnosis of degenerative dementias.

Our understanding of the structural substrates underlying the dementia syndrome has been transformed by the introduction of the Gallyas silver stain and the application of immunostains for tau, ubiquitin, and alpha-synuclein. Visualization of sequential changes in Alzheimer's disease and the recognition of a new substrate for dementia and dementia with argyrophilic grains, are two of the advances related to the application of the Gallyas method. The specificity of alpha-synuclein for recognizing Lewy bodies enables the unequivocal diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies. The diverse entities that constitute the Pick complex can be identified by applying immunostains for tau and ubiquitin in addition to the Gallyas silver stain.