title: Serum folate concentrations in patients with cortical and subcortical dementias.
abstract: Folic acid is believed to play a role in protection from oxidant stress. Low levels of folic acid had been found in serum from patients with Alzheimer disease (AD). Folate concentration was evaluated in sera from 136 patients with cortical dementia [AD, n=108; frontotemporal dementia (FTD), n=28], 57 patients with subcortical dementia [Lewy body disease (LBD), n=9; corticobasal degeneration (CBD), n=5; progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), n=6; Parkinson disease with dementia (PD-Dem), n=37], and 76 nondemented, healthy age-matched people. Serum folic acid levels were decreased in patients with AD and FTD as compared with either controls or patients with subcortical dementia (3.60+/-2.22 and 5.37+/-2.92 microg/L versus 6.87+/-3.50 microg/L, respectively; P<0.01). A tendency towards decreased folate concentration was found in LBD and CBD, but not to a significant extent. The highest proportion of folate-deficient patients was found in CBD, FTD and AD (respectively, 60, 48.2 and 46.3% versus 7.9% in controls; P<0.001). Folate deficiency characterizes FTD as well as AD. These differences observed among different clinical dementing syndromes may be related to neocortical damage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, L. Sacco Hospital, and Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Via G.B. Grassi 74, I-20157 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lovati
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Galimberti
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pomati
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Capiluppi
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dolci
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Scapellato
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mailland
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suardelli
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vanotti
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Clerici
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Santarato
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Panteghini
authors.forename: Elio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Scarpini
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mariani
authors.forename: Pierluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bertora
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019579:Neocortex / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D005492:Folic Acid