Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROPATHOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL NEUROLOGY
Volume 68, Issue 4, Pages 417-424Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1097/NEN.0b013e31819e6334
Keywords
Alzheimer disease; arterioles; demented subjects; image analysis; nondemented subjects; smooth muscle actin
Categories
Funding
- NIA [P50 AG05128, P30 AG028377]
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Guardian Angel Gift Shop
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We previously found that vascular smooth muscle actin (SMA) is reduced in the brains of patients with late stage Alzheimer disease (AD) compared with brains of nondemented, neuropathologically normal subjects. To assess the pathogenetic significance and disease specificity of this finding, we studied 3 additional patient groups: nondemented Subjects without significant AD type pathology (Normal: n = 20), nondemented subjects with frequent senile plaques at autopsy (Preclinical AD, n = 20), and subjects with frontotemporal dementia (FTD, n = 10). The groups were matched for sex and age with those previously reported; SMA immunohistochemistry and image analysis were performed as previously described. Surprisingly, SMA expression in arachnoid, cerebral cortex. and white matter arterioles was greater in the Preclinical AD group than in the Normal and FTD groups. The plaques were not associated with amyloid angiopathy or other vascular disease ill this group. Smooth muscle actin expression in the brains of the Normal Group was intermediate between the Preclinical AD and FTD groups. I All 3 groups exhibited much greater SMA expression than in our previous report. The presence of frequent plaques and increased arteriolar SMA expression in the brains of nondemented subjects suggest that increased SMA expression might represent a physiological response to neurodegeneration that could prevent or delay overt expression dementia in AD.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available