A severe loss of choline acetyltransferase in the frontal cortex of Alzheimer patients carrying apolipoprotein epsilon 4 allele.
We measured the activities of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in the post mortem frontal cortex in 32 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with different apolipoprotein E (apoE) genotypes. The ChAT values were significantly lower for the AD patients with 2 epsilon 4 alleles than for those with 0 epsilon 4 (ANOVA, P < 0.05). The ChAT activities of AD patients carrying 2 or 1 epsilon 4 alleles and those without the epsilon 4 allele also differed significantly: 16.3 +/- 15.2 versus 30.5 +/- 20.6 pmol/mg protein per min, ANOVA, P < 0.05. However, the AD patients carrying the epsilon 4 allele were significantly younger than those with 0 epsilon 4 allele. The study indicates that AD patients carrying the epsilon 4 allele have a more severe cholinergic deficit than the AD patients without the epsilon 4 allele.
Soininen
H
H
Department of Neurology, University of Kuopio, Finland.
Kosunen
O
O
Helisalmi
S
S
Mannermaa
A
A
Paljärvi
L
L
Talasniemi
S
S
Ryynänen
M
M
Riekkinen
P
P
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000201:enzymology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase