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Post-Mortem Neurochemical Changes in Alzheimer's Disease Compared With Normal Ageing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

M. Rossor  and
C.Q. Mountjoy
M. Rossor*
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, St. Mary's Hospital, London, England and National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, London, England and from St. Andrew's Hospital, Northampton and the Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge, England
C.Q. Mountjoy
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, St. Mary's Hospital, London, England and National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, London, England and from St. Andrew's Hospital, Northampton and the Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge, England
*
Department of Neurology, St. Mary's Hospital, Praed Street, London, UK W2 1NY
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Abstract:

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Selective neuronal degeneration with concomitant changes in neurotransmitter systems are features of both normal ageing and Alzheimer's disease. There are, however, important neurochemical differences in cerebral cortex. Choline acetyltransferase declines with age in frontal cortex in contrast to the prominent change in the temporal cortex in Alzheimer's disease. The loss of somatostatin, and the recently reported reciprocal change in corticotropin-releasing factor and receptors are not seen with ageing. However, age itself may have an important influence on the neurochemical deficits in Alzheimer's disease which are restricted in the older patients. The problems of post-mortem studies in the analysis of ageing and possible approaches to this are discussed.

Type
Biochemical Studies
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 13 , Issue S4 , November 1986 , pp. 499 - 502
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1986

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