title: Cerebrospinal fluid chromogranin A is unchanged in Alzheimer dementia.
abstract: Several lines of evidence link chromogranin A (CgA), the major soluble protein in catecholamine storage vesicles, with the cholinergic nervous system, abnormalities of which may play a central role in memory deficits in Alzheimer dementia. Because of reported elevations of CgA in Alzheimer brains and its presence in the senile plaque lesions of such brains, we evaluated the concentration of CgA in cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer dementia patients and matched controls. CgA was detectable in each sample, but the results in dementia showed substantial overlap with and no significant (p = 0.55) difference from the results in healthy controls. We conclude that measurement of cerebrospinal fluid CgA offers no diagnostic assistance in Alzheimer dementia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego 92161.
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Kailasam
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Thal
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D053379:Chromogranin A; D002864:Chromogranins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012727:Sex Characteristics
chemical_list: C506150:CHGA protein, human; D053379:Chromogranin A; D002864:Chromogranins