The nucleoli morphology of tuberomammillary nucleus neurons of the hypothalamus in vascular dementia

Nucleolar stress is part of the pathogenesis of such neurodegenerative diseases as Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. However, information about changes in the nucleoli in vascular dementia that occurs against the background of post-stroke cerebrovascular accidents is practically absent. The aim of this study was to determine the size of the nucleoli in the neurons of the tuberomamillary nucleus of the hypothalamus, which is the main source of histamine synthesis in the brain, using autopsy material from cases with vascular dementia (n=9) compared with the control group of cases (n=10) without cognitive impairment. On histological preparations stained with cresyl-violet according to Nissl, the cross-sectional area of the nucleoli of neurons of the tuberomamillary nucleus of the hypothalamus was significantly smaller in cases with vascular dementia compared with the control group, which indicates not only a decrease in the level of histamine formation involved in the control of sleep cycles and wakefulness and memory, but also about the possible initiation of cell death. The severity of changes in the size of the nucleoli was almost identical to changes in other morphometric criteria for the metabolic activity of neurons, namely the size of the Golgi complex, nuclei and perinuclear area.