[Study of relationship between ApoE epsilon4 allele and hippocampal atrophy in Alzheimer disease].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between ApoE epsilon4 allele and hippocampal atrophy in patients with AD.


METHODS
Using MRI-based volumetry technique and PCR-FRLP, the hippocampal volume and ApoE genotype of 34 AD patients were examined, and the difference in hippocampal volume between the ApoE epsilon4 positive AD group (n=17) and the ApoE epsilon4 negative AD group (n=17) was analyzed. The relationship between the number of ApoE epsilon4 allele and the hippocampal volume was also evaluated.


RESULTS
The hippocampal volume of the ApoE epsilon4 positive AD group was significantly smaller than that of the ApoE epsilon4 negative AD group (t = 2.43, P < 0.05), and there was a negative relationship between the number of ApoE epsilon4 allele and the hippocampal volume (r(s) = -0.210, P = 0.0024). These implied: the more the number of ApoE epsilon4 allele a patient had, the smaller the hippocampal volume of the patient would be.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study the relationship between ApoE epsilon4 allele and hippocampal atrophy of AD was noticeable and it might shed light on the possible role of ApoE epsilon4 in the pathogenesis of AD.
Li
Jin
J
Institute of Mental Health, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Kuang
Wei-hong
WH
Li
Jing
J
Wang
Xue
X
Huang
Ming-sheng
MS
Wu
Ding-ping
DP
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D001284:Atrophy; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E