Complement-activated oligodendroglia: a new pathogenic entity identified by immunostaining with antibodies to human complement proteins C3d and C4d.

Clusters of oligodendroglial fibers were identified immunohistochemically in human brain tissue with antibodies to the complement proteins C3d and C4d in several neurological disorders. These included Pick's, Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, progressive supranuclear palsy and Shy-Drager syndrome. These complement-activated oligodendroglia occurred in selected areas of gray and white matter. They were rarely observed in control tissue. Immunogold electron microscopy established that the C4d antibody was attached to degenerating myelin sheaths. These data indicate attachment of classical complement pathway proteins to selective oligodendroglia in several neurological disorders.