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Concentrations of transferrin and carbohydrate‐deficient transferrin in postmortem human brain from alcoholics
Author(s) -
DODD PETER R.,
ECKERT ALLISON L.,
FLETCHER LINDA M.,
KRIL JILLIAN J.,
HARPER CLIVE G.,
HALLIDAY JUNE W.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
addiction biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.445
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1369-1600
pISSN - 1355-6215
DOI - 10.1080/13556219772633
Subject(s) - carbohydrate deficient transferrin , autopsy , medicine , dementia , cirrhosis , endocrinology , transferrin , radioimmunoassay , cerebral cortex , gastroenterology , pathology , alcohol consumption , alcohol , disease , chemistry , biochemistry
Transferrin (T f) and its carbohydrate‐deficient isoform (CDT) were measured by radioimmunoassay in phosphate‐buffered saline extracts of two informative areas of cerebral cortex tissue obtained at autopsy from alcoholics without other associated disease (n = 4); alcoholics with cirrhosis of the liver (n = 4) and agematched controls (n = 4). Total T f was also measured in two informative cortical areas from five dementia cases. All cases were male. Total immunoreactive T f was assayed directly in the extract, CDT immunoreactivity in the concentrated eluate after the sialylated form was removed by passing through DEAE‐Sephacel at pH 5.65. Brain CDT averaged 10% of total T f overall. Although replicate extractions of individual samples gave consistent assays for both substances, there was wide variation both between different cortical areas from a given case and between cases within groups. There were no significant differences between total T f levels in uncomplicated alcoholics, dementia cases and controls, but cirrhotic alcoholics gave significantly higher values. The CDT: T f ratio was not increased in the brains of either group of alcoholics compared to controls. Whereas the serum CDT: T f ratio is an excellent marker of recent alcohol consumption, brain T f and CDT concentrations do not mark alcoholism nor dementia, and their biological variability diminishes their usefulness as disease indices. However, brain T f may be a marker of cirrhosis‐induced changes.