Spinal fluid CRF reduction in Alzheimer's disease.
Abnormalities in several neurotransmitters, including neuropeptides, have been found in postmortem studies of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recently, corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) was found to be diminished in cerebral cortex. In this study spinal fluid CRF-immunoreactivity (CRF-I) was determined in 16 patients with mild to moderate AD and 9 age-matched controls. Mean CRF-I levels were significantly lower in Alzheimer patients compared with controls. Furthermore, a tendency for a CRF-I increment with successive spinal fluid aliquots in control subjects was absent in Alzheimer patients. CRF-I levels failed to correlate with measures of disease severity or various tests of cognitive function. These results suggest that involvement of CRF containing neurons may play a secondary rather than a primary role in the pathophysiology of AD.
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D003429:Cross Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007106:Immune Sera; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values
D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D007106:Immune Sera; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone