Nestin-like immunoreactivity of corpora amylacea in aged human brain.

Corpora amylacea (CA) are spherical bodies routinely observed throughout the aged human brain, normally found at high frequencies under the ependymal lining of the ventricles. We identified clusters of CA under the ependyma of the lateral and fourth ventricles in post-mortem brain material from Parkinson patients as well as age-matched controls. Using a monoclonal antibody we found CA to be immunoreactive for nestin, a marker of neural stem cells, while no other structures in the investigated brain areas were labeled by this antibody. Nestin filaments are therefore possible structural components of CA, a finding which may trigger new hypotheses regarding their biogenesis and function.