Unlike other neurodegenerative conditions, people with FTD may have one of a number different underlying cellular brain changes. These various cellular changes currently can not be distinguished during life, and instead, diagnosis is achieved by close examination of cells after brain autopsy. Both neurons and their supporting cells (glia) are affected in frontotemporal dementia. Along with neuron degeneration, various proteins have been found to accumulate within these cells that can be identified under the microscope (see pictures). Cellular studies of the brain have shown that there are two types of protein which accumulate in neurons in FTD; tau
