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Search the NeuroBioBank for Tissue Samples
The NIH NeuroBioBank contains an inventory of specimens that are available through its brain and tissue repository network, as well as some that are offered by external repositories. To select a specimen that is part of the NeuroBioBank network, simply mark the checkbox in the "Add/Remove" column. External specimens are marked with a 
and can only be obtained by going through the request process of the external repository. Clicking the will prompt you to visit the specimen request page of the associated external repository. When you have selected all desired NIH NeuroBioBank network specimens, click on the "Create Request" button and your checked selections will be automatically added to your request.
Information Regarding Diagnostic Categorization
Subjects contained within the NBB inventory have undergone extensive neuropathological evaluation and have been characterized using all available donor records (e.g. medical records, autopsy reports, family interviews). In general, diagnoses contained within the NBB inventory are classified based on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) coding schema; however, for conditions that are inadequately represented by this categorization system, the NBB has generated codes and labels that best represent the condition(s) of the subject. The user should be aware that it is not uncommon for a subject to be diagnosed in life with one disorder, only to have the neuropathological evaluation reveal the presence of a different or additional condition(s). The user should consider this when searching / selecting specimens for inclusion in a study.
The following definitions are used to distinguish the types of diagnostic characterization of donors:
Clinical Brain Diagnosis
Psychiatric and neurologic diagnoses made based on review of clinical data, including medical records and/or interview or questionnaires administered to family members or other knowledgeable informants.
Refer to Basis of Clinical Brain Diagnosis for detailed information on clinical brain diagnostic categorization and formulation.
No Clinical Brain Diagnosis Found: Donors were evaluated for clinical brain diagnoses using all available sources of information, and the findings did not meet clinical brain diagnostic criteria. Minor clinical findings not meeting diagnostic criteria may be present in these individuals.
Insufficient Information for Clinical Brain Diagnosis: A diagnostic determination could not be achieved due to insufficient clinical information.
NB: The sources of information utilized to formulate Clinical Brain Diagnoses were updated in October 2021 and retroactively applied. Clinical Brain Diagnoses are formulated based on information about clinical symptoms. Neuropathology examination results, however, are not considered in the formulation of a Clinical Brain Diagnosis. For most donors, the Clinical Brain Diagnosis and Neuropathology Diagnosis are consistent with one another. However, results of the two diagnostic procedures may differ. Examples are provided below for clarification.
| Example Scenario: | Resulting Diagnoses: |
|---|---|
| Clinical data support a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. This clinical diagnosis is not confirmed by neuropathological examination, which provides evidence for a diagnosis of Frontotemporal Dementia. |
|
| Clinical data support a diagnosis of Schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. Neuropathological examination is diagnostic of Alzheimer's disease changes. |
|
| Clinical data support a diagnosis of Schizophrenia. Clinical records do not support a dementia diagnosis, but neuropathological examination is diagnostic of Alzheimer's disease changes. |
|
Neuropathology Diagnosis
Diagnosis made based on the results of neuropathological examination by a qualified neuropathologist. Neuropathology Diagnoses are made according to standardized diagnostic criteria. Neuropathological findings not meeting diagnostic criteria (e.g., low Braak stages, sparse senile plaques, mild atherosclerosis) are not included in the Neuropathology Diagnosis.
Diagnostic pathology not present: A neuropathological examination was carried out - the findings did not meet diagnostic criteria. Minor neuropathological findings may be present in these individuals.
Not evaluated by NP: A neuropathological examination was not carried out.
Coding pending: The neuropathological examination was carried out, but diagnostic results are currently being coded.
The neuropathology diagnosis is distinct from neuropathological findings (e.g. diffuse plaques in frontal lobe, Braak stage). Providing neuropathological findings in the NBB database is underway. However, in the meantime, neuropathological findings are available for subjects upon request.
Genetic Diagnosis
Diagnoses made based on genetic testing.
Non-Brain Diagnosis
Diagnoses made based on the clinical records and review not primarily affecting the brain but can affect brain function.
Information Regarding Basis of Clinical Brain Diagnosis
Basis of Clinical Brain Diagnosis
As the procedures used to determine clinical brain diagnoses can vary across NBB sites, the level of evidence used to assign a clinical brain diagnosis to a subject is captured within the "Basis of clinical brain diagnosis" field.
| Confirmed Diagnosis |
Sufficient evidence exists to:
|
|---|---|
| Investigator Impression |
Diagnosis is based on the clinical impressions of the clinician reviewing the available information, but that information is insufficient to render a confirmed diagnosis. |
| Insufficient Data |
The available information is insufficient to form a reasonable impression of, or to exclude, any brain-related diagnoses. These cases are used to fill requests for pilot tissue to test out methods using human post-mortem tissue. |
Information Regarding Non-Diagnostic Flags
Non-Diagnostic Flags indicate subjects who may be appropriate as comparator/control cases (Flag label: Normative) or methodological piloting cases (Flag label: Pilot Study). Subjects not meeting Normative or Pilot Study Flag criteria are indicated as Not Applicable. All Non-Diagnostic Flags are mutually exclusive.
Normative
- Normative flagged subjects could be considered representative of the expected neurodiversity across individuals without a major and persistent brain-related diagnosis.
- Normative flagged subjects may include any of the following clinical brain diagnosis (CBD) or neuropathological diagnosis (NPD) characteristics:
- No lifetime clinical brain diagnoses identified upon evaluation (CBD label: No clinical brain diagnosis found).
- Clinical Brain Diagnosis present at the time of death that has limited functional impact.
- Clinical Brain Diagnosis that has met "in remission" diagnostic criteria.
- No neuropathological diagnosis identified upon evaluation (NPD label: Diagnostic pathology not present), or neuropathological observations that reflect age-related changes or anatomically discrete events (e.g., focal ischemia).
- Neuropathological evaluation not performed (NPD label: Not evaluated by NP), but the subject is aged 0-20 years and has no lifetime clinical brain diagnoses identified upon evaluation (CBD label: no clinical brain diagnosis found).
- Normative flagged subjects cannot have a genetic disorder diagnosis.
- Normative flagged subjects cannot have a manner of death identified as suicide.
- Subjects with a known, active COVID-19 infection at the time of death, or subjects who died due to COVID-19 related conditions, are excluded from Normative flagging.
- A common and accepted practice in postmortem brain research is to include subjects with mild CBDs, remitted CBDs, and/or NPDs as comparator (or "control") subjects.
- Normative is not a diagnostic term. As such, CBD, NPD, genetic and non-brain diagnoses are presented on the NBB portal, including for subjects with a Normative flag.
- Depending on the experimental design, it may be entirely appropriate to choose cases that are not flagged as Normative for comparison (e.g., study of the concomitants of degenerative pathology might require a comparison group where this pathology is absent, regardless of the CBD).
Pilot Study
- Pilot Study flagged subjects are most appropriate for methodological piloting and studies to establish investigator proficiency with the methods proposed in an NBB tissue request.
- Clinical Brain Diagnosis (CBD) and/or Neuropathological Diagnosis (NPD) could not be fully determined with information available for these subjects.
- Pilot Study is not a diagnostic term. As such, CBD, NPD, genetic and non-brain diagnoses are presented on the NBB portal, including for subjects with a Pilot Study flag.
- Subjects with a known, active COVID-19 infection at the time of death, or subjects who died due to COVID-19 related conditions, are excluded from Pilot Study flagging.
- Depending on the experimental design, Pilot Study flagged subjects may be suitable for uses other than methodological piloting and proficiency studies.
- For example, subjects with insufficient information to form the basis of a CBD may be appropriate to include in a study of the effects of Type 2 diabetes (non-brain diagnosis) on blood vessel density in the prefrontal cortex of pre-adolescent individuals.
Not Applicable
- Not Applicable flagged subjects are those who do not meet criteria for Normative or Pilot Study flags. These subjects may have 1) exclusionary diagnoses, 2) other exclusionary factors, or 3) diagnostic coding that is pending.
- Examples of diagnostic and subject characteristics that indicate subjects as Not Applicable flagged:
- Alzheimer's disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Schizophrenia
- Substance use disorders active at the time of death
- Trisomy 21
- Suicide manner of death
- Most subjects available in the NBB meet criteria for Not Applicable flagging.
Information Regarding De-Identified Age in Subjects Aged 89 and Older
De-Identified Age in Subjects Aged 89 and Older
As subject's age, in combination with other health information, could potentially be a unique identifier for individuals aged 89 and older, these subjects are listed as aged 89+, following HIPAA Privacy Rule.
Information Regarding the Evaluation of Large Tissue Requests
In evaluating requests for large amounts of tissue and/or many brain regions, we have adopted a key principle of stewardship and three guidelines of success, supervision and significance to consider in order to ensure that distribution of tissues are aligned with the wishes and intents of our donors and with all missions of the NeuroBioBank and each NeuroBioBank BTR site.
1. Stewardship
- Conscientious stewardship and custodianship that befit the nature of donation and that honor the intent of donors that their gift be used to serve the interests of many are core principles of postmortem human brain tissue research. Careful review of requests for extraordinary resources is essential to insure the responsible distribution and utilization of donated tissues. These reviews should include consideration of the following three guidelines:
2. Success
- Does the requesting laboratory have a documented record of publication using the proposed study design and each of the proposed methods to study postmortem human brain tissue? If not, are the proposed study design and methods comparable to those of published studies by others?
- Does the request include a specific, scientific rationale for each brain region or tissue type? The rationale should include an explanation as to why each requested region or tissue type is necessary to answer the research question, including the discriminatory and/or interpretative value of each region or tissue type requested.
- Is there a robust justification for the requested amount of tissue? Nearly every methodology used to study postmortem human brain tissue requires ≤ 100mg to perform an experiment, with replicates. In these instances, requests of larger quantities of tissue must be justified by scientific and/or experimental evidence.
3. Supervision
- Request of large quantities of tissue may suggest an intent to perform additional studies in the future without undergoing review by the NeuroBioBank. Stockpiling of tissue for future experiments unfairly restricts the availability of brain regions and tissue types for study by other requestors.
4. Scientific Significance
- Providing large quantities of tissue and/or many brain regions is appropriate when the above guidelines are met and when the request is accompanied by evidence that the questions to be addressed are of scientific significance. Scientific significance includes clear and critical scientific questions that can be answered with the proposed methodologies with anticipated results so impactful that there is a demonstrable benefit to exhausting, or substantially sampling, tissues.
- One way to demonstrate scientific significance is to provide the peer-reviewed and NIH-funded award supporting the studies that require a large quantity of tissue and/or many brain regions.
Large/extensive tissue requests are subject to additional review by the NeuroBioBank's Large, Precious, and Rare Tissue Request Committee (LPRTRC). A tissue request might be eligible for such a review, if it requests one or more of the following:
- More than 20 subjects
- Disorders with fewer than 200 subjects available in the NeuroBioBank inventory
- Rare disorders with low prevalence
- More than 3 brain regions (particularly small and/or high-demand regions, e.g., Substantia nigra, hippocampus) or tissue/biofluid types
- Biospecimen volumes or weights that exceed the NeuroBioBank's suggested standards
Information Regarding Toxicology Test Results
Toxicology results are obtained by the NeuroBioBank from NMS Labs. Where toxicology results are available, a link to a subject's full toxicology report is provided in the search below. Clicking on the link to the full toxicology report will open that subject's toxicology report in a separate window. This report can be searched and downloaded for use. All results shown in the report are those provided by NMS Labs. The results shown represent the full toxicology panel results as delivered to the NBB.
If a compound is not listed in the toxicology report for the subject, the scope of analysis did not include the compound and the subject was not tested for this compound. The absence of a test for a compound should never be taken to indicate that this subject is negative for the given compound. The absence of a test result only means that a subject was not tested for this compound and does not imply or assert any additional information.
For compounds tested, the Result value should always be compared to the Reporting Limit value to determine if a compound was detected for that subject at clinically significant levels. A result of None Detected indicates that, in the NMS Labs testing scheme, this compound was not detected at the Reporting Limit. For the purposes of searching on this website, this is treated as a subject having a negative result for this compound.
Searching for Toxicology Results on the NBB Website
The NBB website currently offers multiple options for searching for subjects by toxicology result, including:
- Compound Category (Positive Result) - this search option returns subjects who are positive for any compound in the chosen category. For example, a subject who has a positive result for Morphine will be returned when searching on Opioids in this field. For more information about compound categories, see below.
- Compound (Positive Result) - this search option returns subjects who are positive for the specific compound searched on. When searching on multiple compounds using this search field, the results will return subjects who are positive for at least one of the selected compounds. Please note: many compounds have similar names. Requestors may need to select multiple compounds for their search.
- Compound (Negative Result) - this search option returns subjects who are negative for the specific compound searched on. When searching on multiple compounds using this search field, the results will return subjects who are negative for at least one of the selected compounds. Please note: many compounds have similar names. Requestors may need to select multiple compounds for their search.
- Tissue Source - this field allows requestors to search on the type of tissue used for a test. For example, if a requestor is interested in subjects who had Whole Blood used for their toxicology tests, they would use this search facet.
Compound Categories
Compound categories are used on this site to group like compounds together for ease of searching. An individual compound's category will also be indicated in a subject's full toxicology report. Below is a list of all compound categories and the compounds included within each one.
- Anticholinergic
- Antidepressant
- Antiepileptic
- Antihistamine
- Antipsychotic
- Beta Blocker
- Cannabinoid
- Ethanol
- Hallucinogen
- Major Stimulant
- Minor Stimulant
- Nicotine
-
Non-CNS-acting
- These compounds do not act upon the central nervous system or their major action is not upon the central nervous system and do not fall under any of the other compound categories.
- Opioid
-
Other Psychotropic
- These compounds do have central nervous system effects and do not fall under any of the other compound categories.
- Sedative-Hypnotic-Anxiolytic