title: Neprylisin decreases uniformly in Alzheimer's disease and in normal aging.
abstract: The proteolysis of beta-amyloid (Abeta) requires neprylisin, an enzyme that has been shown as reduced in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated whether a decrease in neprilysin levels contributes to the accumulation of amyloid deposits not only in AD but also in the normal aging. We analyzed neprilysin mRNA and protein levels in cerebral cortex from 10 cognitively normal elderly subjects with amyloid plaques (NA), 10 cases of AD, and 10 control cases free of amyloid plaques. We found a significant decrease in neprilysin mRNA levels in both AD and NA compared to control cases. Thereby, the defect of neprilysin appears to correlate with Abeta deposition but not with degeneration and dementia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Ophthalmology and Genetics, University of Genoa, Via De Toni 5, 16132 Genoa, Italy. robertaruss@tiscali.it
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Borghi
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Markesbery
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tabaton
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piccini
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000378:metabolism; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D015260:Neprilysin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D015260:Neprilysin