Pathology in brainstem regions of individuals with primary dystonia

Abstract

Examination of brains from four individuals with the clinical diagnosis of primary dystonia revealed histopathologic abnormalities in two cases. A 29-year-old man with a 15-year history of dystonia musculorum deformans (DMD) had numerous neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) and mild neuronal loss within the locus ceruleus; occasional NFT were also recognized in the substantia nigra pars compacta, pedunculopontine nucleus, and dorsal raphe nucleus. A 68-year-old man with a 35-year history of Meige syndrome had moderate-to-severe neuronal loss in several brainstem nuclei, including the substantia nigra pars compacta, locus ceruleus, raphe nuclei, and pedunculopontine nucleus. Infrequent NFT were also noted in substantia nigra. An examination of these and other brain regions in a 10-year-old boy with a 6-year history of DMD and a 50-year-old woman with a 3-year history of spasmodic torticollis did not disclose similar abnormalities.