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Changes in β‐Adrenergic Receptor Subtypes in Alzheimer‐Type Dementia
Author(s) -
Shimohama Shun,
Taniguchi Takashi,
Fujiwara Motohatsu,
Kameyama Masakuni
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1987.tb05649.x
Subject(s) - medicine , endocrinology , hippocampus , thalamus , putamen , receptor , cerebellum , alzheimer's disease , nucleus basalis , caudate nucleus , adrenergic receptor , biology , neuroscience , chemistry , central nervous system , disease , cholinergic neuron
Using ligand binding techniques, we studied β‐adrenergic receptor subtypes in brains obtained at autopsy from seven histologically normal controls and seven histopathologically verified cases with Alzheimer‐type dementia (ATD). Inhibition of [ 3 H]dihydroalprenolol ([ 3 H]DHA) binding by the selective β, antagonist, metoprolol, results in nonlinear Hofstee plots, suggesting the presence of the two receptor subtypes in the human brain. The calculated ratios of β 1 /β 2 ‐adrenergic receptors in control brains are as follows: frontal cortex, 49:51; temporal cortex, 31:69; hippocampus, 66:34; thalamus, 23:77; putamen, 70:30; caudate, 48:52; nucleus basalis of Meynert (NbM), 43:57; cerebellar hemisphere, 25:75. Compared with the controls, total concentrations of β‐adrenergic receptors were significantly reduced only in the thalamus of the ATD brains. β 1 ‐Adrener gic receptor concentrations were significantly reduced in the hippocampus and increased in the NbM and cerebellar hemisphere, whereas β 2 ‐adrenergic receptor concentrations were significantly reduced in the thalamus, NbM, and cerebellar hemisphere and increased in the hippocampus and putamen of the ATD brains. These results suggest that β 1 ‐and β 2 ‐adrenergic receptors are present in the human brain and that there are significant changes in both receptor subtypes in selected brain regions in patients with ATD.