A 56-year-old man passes away in the hospital from problems brought on by aspiration. Five days ago, the patient was hospitalized with right-sided weakness, sensory loss, and issues speaking and swallowing. The left frontoparietal region was hypodensified according to a CT scan. A slice of loose, spongy tissue from the aberrant brain region is taken for autopsy investigation. Below are histologic results following lipid staining. The cells most intensely stained in this patient's brain specimen represent which of the following cell types?

Question

A 56-year-old man passes away in the hospital from problems brought on by aspiration. Five days ago, the patient was hospitalized with right-sided weakness, sensory loss, and issues speaking and swallowing. The left frontoparietal region was hypodensified according to a CT scan. A slice of loose, spongy tissue from the aberrant brain region is taken for autopsy investigation. Below are histologic results following lipid staining.  The cells most intensely stained in this patient's brain specimen represent which of the following cell types?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Eductional Objective: An ischemic stroke in this patient resulted in acute-onset neurologic abnormalities (such as hemiparesis, dysphagia, and dysarthria), which were verified by a CT scan and the results of an autopsy. Regional hypoperfusion (due to thrombosis or embolism, for example) or a general decrease in cerebral blood flow are the causes of an ischemic infarct. Six to twelve hours following the beginning of ischemia damage, characteristic CT findings, including hypoattenuation of the tissue and loss of grey-white matter distinction within the afflicted area, become visible.
In the first 24 hours following injury, neurons in the necrotic region show evidence of irreparable damage (red neurons). After the start of ischemia, neutrophils first invade the region for the first 1-2 days, and then microglia (produced from yolk-sac monocytes) during the next 3-7 days. 
As the neurons disintegrate, their fragments are phagocytized by microglia, and myelin breakdown products accumulate in the cytoplasm of microglia as foamy lipids. Infiltration of the brain tissue by microglia (arrow) is seen on light microscopy in the photo and is consistent with the expected histology findings 5 days post-infarction.

A 56-Year-Old Man Passes Away in the Hospital from Problems