Abnormal iron distribution in the isocortex is increasingly recognized as an in vivo marker for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the contribution of iron accumulation to the AD pathology is still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated: 1) frontal cortical iron distribution in AD and normal aging and 2) the relation between iron distribution and degree of AD pathology. We used formalin fixed paraffin embedded frontal cortex from 10 AD patients, 10 elder, 10 middle aged, and 10 young controls and visualized iron with a modified Perl's histochemical procedure. AD and elderly subjects were not different with respect to age and sex distribution. Iron distribution in the frontal cortex was not affected by normal aging but was clearly different between AD and controls. AD showed accumulation of iron in plaques, activated microglia, and, in the most severe cases, in the mid-cortical layers along myelinated fibers. The degree of altered iron accumulations was correlated to the amount of amyloid-β plaques and tau pathology in the same block, as well as to Braak stage (p