vasoactive-intestinal-peptide and Dementia

Delta-sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), peptide YY (PYY) and somatostatin (SOM) were assayed with specific radioimmunological methods in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of healthy volunteers, 12 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), 11 patients with multi-infarct dementia (MID) and 10 patients with normal-pressure hydrocephalus (NPH). Patients with NPH were reinvestigated 3 months after a ventriculoperitoneal shunt operation. DSIP, PYY and SOM levels in CSF were decreased in patients with NPH compared to controls. The CSF concentration of SOM was also significantly reduced in patients with AD. No correlations were found between the degree of dementia in any of the illnesses and the CSF concentrations of the peptides. The concentration of DSIP, VIP and SOM increased significantly in parallel to the clinical improvement after the shunt operation in NPH patients.

Topics: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Delta Sleep-Inducing Peptide; Dementia; Gastrointestinal Hormones; Humans; Hydrocephalus, Normal Pressure; Middle Aged; Neuropeptides; Peptide YY; Peptides; Radioimmunoassay; Somatostatin; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide

Patients with normal-pressure hydrocephalus, multi-infarct dementia, and recent cerebral infarction had significantly lower vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) levels than age-matched controls (11 +/- 3 pmol/l, 17 +/- 4 pmol/l, 21 +/- 4 pmol/l, and 33 +/- 4 pmol/l, respectively). Three months after a shunt operation, the VIP levels had increased significantly in patients with hydrocephalus (54 +/- 13 pmol/l). VIP concentration in patients with senile dementia did not differ from that of controls.

Topics: Aged; Dementia; Humans; Hydrocephalus; Ischemic Attack, Transient; Middle Aged; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide

Topics: Aged; Dementia; Frontal Lobe; Humans; Neurons; Parkinson Disease; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide

Somatostatin- and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-like immunoreactivities (SLI and VLI, respectively) were measured, by radioimmunoassay, in 21 regions of postmortem brains from 7 histologically verified cases of patients with Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD) and 10 histologically normal controls. SLI was significantly reduced in the orbital cortex, hippocampus and putamen of ATD brains. Significant reduction of VLI in the ATD brains was also found in the insular and angulate cortex, which have not previously been examined biochemically for peptides. These results suggest that involvement of not only somotostatin- but also VIP-containing neurons may not be ruled out in ATD brains.

Topics: Acetylcholine; Aged; Alzheimer Disease; Brain Chemistry; Cerebral Cortex; Choline O-Acetyltransferase; Dementia; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Somatostatin; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide

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

Post-mortem brain tissue from 7 patients who died with a diagnosis of senile dementia of Alzheimer type (SDAT) was compared with tissue obtained from 7 control patients at routine post mortem. A significant fall in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity was apparent in the cerebral cortex of the SDAT cases which was maximal in the temporal lobe. The fall in ChAT activity was not accompanied by changes in cortical vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) measured by radioimmunoassay.

Topics: Aged; Alzheimer Disease; Caudate Nucleus; Cerebral Cortex; Choline O-Acetyltransferase; Dementia; Female; Gastrointestinal Hormones; Globus Pallidus; Hippocampus; Humans; Interneurons; Male; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide