cholecystokinin and Dementia

Topics: Aged; Alzheimer Disease; Amino Acids; Brain; Cholecystokinin; Choline O-Acetyltransferase; Dementia; Dopamine beta-Hydroxylase; Glutamate Decarboxylase; Humans; Middle Aged; Neurotransmitter Agents; Peptide Fragments; Sincalide; Somatostatin; Substance P

Cholecystokinin (CCK) receptor binding was measured in postmortem brain tissue of patients with Alzheimer's dementia, Huntington's chorea, and neurologically healthy matched controls. CCK binding was significantly reduced inthe basal ganglia and cerebral cortex of Huntington's patients, but was normal in the temporal and cingulate cortex of patients with Alzheimer's disease. These findings indicate that CCK receptor loss is unique to specific neurodegenerative disease(s), and that CCK may be involved in the symptoms of Huntington's disease but is not implicated in the neuropathology of Alzheimer's dementia.

Topics: Alzheimer Disease; Basal Ganglia; Brain; Cerebral Cortex; Cholecystokinin; Dementia; Female; Gyrus Cinguli; Humans; Huntington Disease; Male; Receptors, Cell Surface; Receptors, Cholecystokinin; Temporal Lobe

Topics: Alzheimer Disease; Brain; Brain Chemistry; Cholecystokinin; Dementia; Female; Glucagon; Humans; Male; Tissue Distribution

Activities relating to 3 neurotransmitter and 4 neuropeptide systems have been examined in human temporal lobe (post mortem) for their relationships with age and Alzheimer-type changes (senile plaques and cognitive function). Significant alterations with increasing age (from 61 to 92 years) in a series of non-demented cases included a reduction of the cholinergic enzyme, choline acetyltransferase, and an increase in vasoactive intestinal peptide immunoreactivity. In cases of alzheimer's disease the only neurochemical activity investigated which correlated significantly with cognitive impairment (assessed from a Mental Test Score obtained shortly before death) and with the severity of Alzheimer-type abnormalities (senile plaques density) was choline acetyltransferase. Further analyses of the data in relation to the severity of plaque formation suggest that alterations in other neurochemical activities including reductions in dopamine-beta-hydroxylase activity, cholecystokinin octapeptide (aqueous extracted) and somatostatin immunoreactivities and an increase in substance P immunoreactivity, may occur at later stages of the disease process. These comparative data suggest that biochemical changes in this brain area associated with age and earlier stages of Alzheimer's disease may be relatively selective.

Topics: Aged; Aging; Alzheimer Disease; Cholecystokinin; Choline O-Acetyltransferase; Cognition; Dementia; Dopamine beta-Hydroxylase; Glutamate Decarboxylase; Humans; Middle Aged; Somatostatin; Substance P; Temporal Lobe; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and cholecystokinin (CCK) have been measured, by radioimmunoassay, in cerebral cortex obtained at autopsy from patients without neurological or psychiatric disease and from patients with Alzheimer's disease, depression and schizophrenia. Sephadex gel filtration indicated that over 90% of the CCK immunoreactivity was associated with the octapeptide in extracted material from the different clinical groups investigated. There were no significant differences from the normal in the overall concentrations of either VIP or CCK in any of the psychiatric groups examined, although differences in Alzheimer's disease were apparent when cases were grouped according to postmortem delay.

Topics: Alzheimer Disease; Cerebral Cortex; Cholecystokinin; Dementia; Depressive Disorder; Gastrointestinal Hormones; Humans; Radioimmunoassay; Schizophrenia; Synaptic Transmission; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide

Topics: Aged; Alzheimer Disease; Animals; Brain; Caudate Nucleus; Cerebral Cortex; Cholecystokinin; Choline O-Acetyltransferase; Dementia; Drug Stability; Hippocampus; Humans; Male; Mice