Regional distribution of pre- and postsynaptic glutamatergic function in Alzheimer's disease

Cowburn, Richard, Hardy, John, Roberts, Peter and Briggs, Roger (1988) Regional distribution of pre- and postsynaptic glutamatergic function in Alzheimer's disease. Brain Research, 452 (1-2), 403-407. (doi:10.1016/0006-8993(88)90048-0).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Ca²⁺/Cl^--independentl-[³H]glutamate- and sodium-dependentd-[³H]aspartate binding assays were used to assess the integrity of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and glutamate uptake sites in a number of areas from control and Alzheimer's diseased brain. NMDA receptor densities were unchanged in all areas tested. In contrast, significant reductions in the number of glutamate terminals were seen in the hippocampus of the Alzheimer's samples. A smaller reduction was seen in the caudate nucleus but this failed to reach significance. No such reductions were seen in either the frontal or parietal cortices.

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Published date: 14 June 1988

Additional Information: Funding Information: This work was supported by grants from the Wellcome Trust (P.R and R.B) and by the Research Corporation Trust (J.H). R.C. is an MRC scholar. We thank Angela Symons for clinical follow up of the Alzheimer's cases, Prof. R.O. Weller and Drs. B.S. Wilkins and D.C. Davies for neuropathological assessments, Dr. P. Krogsgaard-Larsen (Copenhagen) for his generous gift of AMPA and Drs. M. Simpson, P. Slater and S.W. Davies for providing tissue.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, Glutamate, N-Methyl-d-aspartic acid receptor, Terminal