Apolipoprotein E genotype and amyloid load in Alzheimer disease and control brains.
We investigated the effect of apolipoprotein E (apoE) genotype on amyloid load in the frontal and cerebellar cortices of 24 patients with definite Alzheimer disease (AD) and 19 controls. Amyloid load was examined by using two methods: 1) acid-extractable amyloid beta-protein (A beta) and insoluble A beta levels of frontal and cerebellar cortices were measured by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and 2) all types of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) in the frontal cortices were counted after silver staining. Acid-extractable A beta and insoluble A beta levels were higher in AD brains than controls, although there was an overlap between the groups. Acid-extractable A beta and insoluble A beta levels were higher from AD and controls with the apoE epsilon 4 alleles than those without such alleles. However, the differences did not reach statistical significance in AD group. There was no correlation between acid-extractable A beta or insoluble A3 levels and the number of amyloid plaques in AD and control brains. However, insoluble A beta levels correlated positively with the number of NFT in AD brains. Our results show that although apoE epsilon 4 influences the accumulation of A beta, multiple processes may be involved in deposition of A beta in the brain.
Pirttilä
T
T
Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, NY 10314, USA.
Soininen
H
H
Mehta
P D
PD
Heinonen
O
O
Lehtimäki
T
T
Bogdanovic
N
N
Paljärvi
L
L
Kim
K S
KS
Kosunen
O
O
Winblad
B
B
Riekkinen
P
P
Wisniewski
H M
HM
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D002525:Cerebellar Cortex / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D016874:Neurofibrillary Tangles / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D012727:Sex Characteristics
D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D001057:Apolipoproteins E