The cornu ammonis and alcoholic cirrhotic encephalopathy. A neuropathological and immunohistological study.

Two distinct categories of facts are deduced from a neuropathological study of the Ammon's horn, in particular the Sommer Sector, afflicted with alcoholic cirrhotic encephalopathy. In the pyramidal neurons of the CA1 layer, there are unquestionably paired filaments in a helical form, which correspond to the now classic "paired helical filaments". On the other hand, whereas the astrocyte population on the whole displays the characteristics of what can be called Alzheimer type II cells, a certain number of highly reactive areas persist, which can be detected by a GFAP-specific immunohistochemical method.