[Morphological changes and prion accumulation in the cerebellar cortex in Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease].

Histological sections of the cerebellar cortex taken from 5 patients with Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD), including 3 patients with sporadic form, were comparatively studied. The rate of pathological alterations as well as localization of prion protein (PrP) deposits greatly varied in these two groups of patients. The intensity of neural loss, damage of glial cells and accumulation of PrP increased in parallel to the duration of the disease. In nvCJD, all layers of the cerebellum, the granular layer in particular, were affected to give rise to diffuse deposits of PrP and immature amyloid plaques. Vacuolization was less pronounced and occurred predominantly in the molecular layer in all patients.