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Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor and neurotrophin‐3 levels in Alzheimer's disease brains
Author(s) -
Durany Nuria,
Michel Tanya,
Kurt Jellinger,
CruzSánchez Felix F.,
CervósNavarro Jorge,
Riederer Peter
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
international journal of developmental neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.761
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1873-474X
pISSN - 0736-5748
DOI - 10.1016/s0736-5748(00)00046-0
Subject(s) - neurotrophin , neuroscience , brain derived neurotrophic factor , neurotrophic factors , neurotrophin 3 , disease , nerve growth factor , ciliary neurotrophic factor , alzheimer's disease , psychology , medicine , receptor
In the present study, we investigated the levels of brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophin‐3 (NT‐3) in post‐mortem brain tissue of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, and we observed a significant increase of BDNF concentration in hippocampus and parietal cortex of AD patients, as well as a negative correlation between NT‐3 levels and age in hippocampus and putamen of control subjects, and for BDNF in frontal cortex. A defining feature of AD is the post‐mortem identification of neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain, however, a more significant neuropathological finding is the degeneration of cholinergic neurones of the basal forebrain, critically involved in memory and cognition. Neurotrophic factors are partly responsible for the maintenance of neuronal function and structural integrity in the adult brain. Our results provide, therefore, evidence that, under conditions of progressive neurodegeneration the brain stimulates the over expression of certain neurotrophic factors as a possible mechanisms of compensation, and that during senescence the expression of these molecules is regulated.