Journal
JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMERS DISEASE
Volume 26, Issue 1, Pages 181-186Publisher
IOS PRESS
DOI: 10.3233/JAD-2011-110116
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease; cerebrospinal fluid; cortical plasticity; tau; transcranial magnetic stimulation
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Funding
- Italian Ministry of Health [RF 08.18]
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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative process characterized by progressive neuronal degeneration, reduced levels of neurotransmitters, and altered forms of synaptic plasticity. In animal models of AD, amyloid-beta (A beta) and tau proteins are supposed to interfere with synaptic transmission. In the current study, we investigated the correlation between motor cortical plasticity, measured with 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), and the levels of A beta(1-42), total tau (t-Tau), and phosphorylated tau (p-Tau) detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of AD patients. We found that the overall rTMS after effects were milder in AD patients in comparison with controls. In AD patients the amount of rTMS-induced inhibition correlated with CSF t-Tau, but not with A beta(1-42) CSF levels. Surprisingly, higher CSF t-Tau levels were associated to a stronger inhibition of the motor evoked potentials, implying that the expected effects of the 1Hz rTMS protocol were more evident in patients with more pathological t-Tau CSF levels. These data could be interpreted as the consequence of CSF t-Tau mediated abnormal excitatory activity and could suggest that CSF t-Tau may impact mechanisms of cortical plasticity.
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