The quantitative assessment of lipofuscin pigment, cytoplasmic RNA and nucleolar volume in senile dementia.

Treatment of patients suffering from senile dementia with meclofenoxate has been reported to result in an improvement in mental performance. Furthermore meclofenoxate reduces the amount of lipofuscin pigment in nerve cells. We have shown that, although nerve cells in a group of demented patients have decreased amounts of cytoplasmic RNA and reduced nucleolar volume, they contain no more pigment than do cells of a control group. It seems, therefore, unlikely that removal of lipofuscin, per se, has any bearing on this reported improvement in intellectual capability, nor is it implicated in the aetiology of senile dementia.