Cerebrospinal fluid tau levels in Alzheimer's disease are elevated when compared with vascular dementia but do not correlate with measures of cerebral atrophy.
Increased tau levels are a well-established finding in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In contrast, the potential value of tau levels in the differential diagnosis of AD, vascular dementia (VD) and major depression warrants further investigation. The potential impact of psychotropic medication also needs to be established. We investigated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tau protein concentrations in 88 patients with AD, 23 patients with VD, 25 patients with major depression and 17 age-paralleled controls without cognitive impairment with respect to important clinical variables, type and dosage of psychotropic medication and cerebral changes as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The AD patients showed significantly elevated tau levels compared with patients with VD or major depression and controls. Tau levels obtained in the VD group were intermediate, with significant differences from both AD patients and patients with major depression and controls. Within the AD group, no significant correlation between tau levels, severity of dementia, age, duration of disease, type and dosage of psychotropic medication or MRI volumetric changes arose. A subgroup of AD patients without increased tau levels was characterized by a significantly larger percentage of patients with presenile onset.
Schönknecht
Peter
P
Department of Psychiatry, Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Voss-Street 4, Heidelberg D-69115, Germany.
Pantel
Johannes
J
Hartmann
Tobias
T
Werle
Egon
E
Volkmann
Martin
M
Essig
Marco
M
Amann
Michael
M
Zanabili
Nadja
N
Bardenheuer
Hubertus
H
Hunt
Aoife
A
Schröder
Johannes
J
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001284:Atrophy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*
D016875:tau Proteins