Hippocampal sclerosis in dementia, epilepsy, and ischemic injury: Differential vulnerability of hippocampal subfields

Severe neuronal loss in the hippocampus, that is, hippocampal sclerosis (HS), can be seen in 3 main clinical contexts: dementia (particularly frontotemporal lobar degeneration [FTLD]), temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and hippocampal ischemic injury (H-I). It has been suggested that shared pathogenetic mechanisms may underlie selective vulnerability of the hippocampal subfields such as the CA1 in these conditions. We determined the extent of neuronal loss in cases of HS-FTLD (n = 14), HS-TLE (n = 35), and H-I (n = 20). Immunohistochemistry for zinc transporter 3 was used to help define the CA3/CA2 border in the routinely processed human autopsy tissue samples. The subiculum was involved in 57% of HS-FTLD, 10% of H-I, and 0% of HS-TLE cases (p < 0.0001). The CA regions other than CA1 were involved in 57% of HS-TLE, 30% of H-I, and 0% of HS-FTLD cases (p= 0.0003). The distal third of CA1 was involved in 79% of HS-FTLD, 35% of H-I, and 37% of HS-TLE cases (p = 0.02). The distal third of CA1 was the only area involved in 29% of HS-FTLD, 3% of HS-TLE, and 0% of H-I cases (p = 0.019). The proximal-middle CA1 was the only area affected in 50% of H-I, 29% of HS-TLE, and 0% of HS-FTLD cases (p = 0.004). These findings support heterogeneity in the pathogenesis of HS.