Blood-brain barrier integrity in Alzheimer's disease patients and elderly control subjects.
A defective blood-brain barrier (BBB) has been postulated to be present in Alzheimer's disease (AD), which would allow circulating beta-amyloid peptide to enter the brain. The authors tested this hypothesis by studying BBB function in 14 individuals with probable AD and 9 elderly control subjects. A computed tomographic method was used to measure blood-to-brain transport (K1), tissue-to-blood efflux (k2), tissue plasma space (Vp), and tissue extracellular space (Ve) of meglumine iothalamate. Repeated-measures analysis of variance indicated no significant differences between the groups for any of the measures. The authors conclude that there is no generalized abnormality of the blood-brain barrier in AD.
Caserta
M T
MT
Department of Psychiatry, Evanston Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Caccioppo
D
D
Lapin
G D
GD
Ragin
A
A
Groothuis
D R
DR
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed