Neuropathology Slide Archives

The extensive slide, kodachrome and tissue block archives of Neuropathogy that were collected for over 40 year (1952 to 1996) continues to be maintained. It is readily accessible in the Neuropathology offices with the corresponding written records. Many of these cases have been worked up beyond the standard diagnostic protocol with funds from grants for experimental work on human tumors and the Hanna fund. Numerous Yale papers have been written on the classification and biology of different brain tumors by the Neuropathology faculty and fellows, as well as by visitors in Neuropathology.

Tumor biology innovations: Dr. EE Manuelidis established the first human gliomas in tissue cultures from many of these samples. In a seminal paper with A. Pond in 1964 he showed that transplanted human malignant tumor could be rapidly and completely destroyed by intramuscular inoculation of a virus), "Oncolytic effect of poliomyelitis virus on human epidermoid carcinoma....” (PMID 14202523). Other experimental work on the biology of astrocytomas and glioblastomas underscored the effects of environment on tumor growth. An early interest in the potential genetic origin of environmental-induced changes led L. Manuelidis to discover some of the first human DNA sequences (alpha repeats and LINES, see major discoveries link) using new and archived specimens. These studies ultimately led to the uncovering the inherent genetic variability in the more malignant gliomas see:

Genomic stability and instability in different neuroepithelial tumors: A role for chromosome structure

The Neuropathology archive in the Surgery Department also maintains an extensive collection of dementia specimens, including many The Neuropathology rare and unusual human cases. It also was the first to establish faithful experimental models of human Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD) in small rodents. These unique isolates or infectious agent strains of CJD have been propagated to a variety of settings. Several other human strains propagate here in normal rodents and tissue cultures include “mad cow” vCJD from UK residents and kuru from New Guinea (see major contributions CJD).

Many fundamental discoveries of their transmission were uncovered at Yale, e.g., the demonstration that 1) the CJD infectious agent travel by the blood to the brain, 2) inadvertent infections caused by transplants, and 3) the CJD agent behaves as a viral particle with a protected nucleic acid genome. We are happy to make the thousands of fastidiously catalogued experimental CJD slides and corresponding embedded brain and tissue specimens available for review and teaching.