Increased gamma-aminobutyrate aminotransferase activity in brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease.
In order to search for more proximal factors in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, we studied the activities of various enzyme in the brains of patients, as well as control cases, by postmortem autopsy. In addition to the findings already known, such as the increase in prolyl endopeptidase (post-proline cleaving enzyme, PPCE) activity and the decrease in kallikrein activity, we found, anew, an increase in aminobutyrate aminotransferase (GABA-T) activity in the Alzheimer brain. This may be an important impetus for the reduction of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain, one of the neurotransmitters. It has to be determined whether the former two abnormalities offer a background for such an abnormality of the neurotransmitter.
Institute of Microbial Chemistry, Tokyo, Japan.
T
T
Aoyagi
T
T
Wada
M
M
Nagai
F
F
Kojima
S
S
Harada
T
T
Takeuchi
H
H
Takahashi
K
K
Hirokawa
T
T
Tsumita
D000612:4-Aminobutyrate Transaminase / Q000378:metabolism*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000201:enzymology*; D001921:Brain / Q000201:enzymology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
D000612:4-Aminobutyrate Transaminase