Distribution of intracytoplasmic acidophilic granule-containing neurons in the human brain.

Using four autopsied brains, we studied the anatomic locations of the intracytoplasmic acidophilic granule (IAG)-containing neurons. These neurons occurred in the hypothalamus, zona incerta, insular cortex, and the other 23 nuclei. However, IAGs were not observed in neurons of the Ammon's horn, thalamus, dentate nucleus, or in Purkinje cells of the cerebellum. The distribution of IAG-containing neurons does not exactly correspond to that of the neuromelanin- or monoamine-forming neurons. There is, however, a striking parallelism between the IAG-containing neurons map and the Lewy bodies map. It is suggested by the superimposition of both maps that IAG-containing neurons may have a certain metabolic relation to the formation of Lewy bodies.