Brain Involvement in Generalized Argyria

Cutaneous argyria was diagnosed in a 59-year-old woman. Manic depressive psychosis developed at about the same or a short time thereafter. The patient died 6 years later from a ruptured aortic aneurysm. At autopsy silver deposits were seen in skin, mucous membranes, heart, kidney, and liver. In the central nervous system the leptomeninges and choroid plexuses contained silver granules. In addition, silver granules were visualized in the walls of many intraparenchymal vessels, particularly of the basal ganglia, hypothalamus, substantia nigra, and cerebellum. Progressive glial changes and cellular gliosis were evident in many areas of the brain. With the electron microscope the deposition of silver granules in basal membrane structures of the choroid plexus and intracerebral vasculature was amply confirmed. Furthermore, silver deposition was seen in brain parenchymal cells inside bodies of apparently lysosomal nature. The silver content of various brain regions was determined by absorption spectrophotometry.