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Distribution of Amyloid β 42 in Relation to the Cerebral Microvasculature in an Elderly Cohort with Alzheimer's Disease
Author(s) -
THOMAS A. J.,
MORRIS C. M.,
FERRIER I. N.,
KALARIA R. N.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2000.tb06353.x
Subject(s) - cerebral amyloid angiopathy , apolipoprotein e , pathology , senile plaques , alzheimer's disease , amyloid beta , parahippocampal gyrus , medicine , beta (programming language) , cerebral cortex , disease , dementia , neuroscience , biology , temporal lobe , computer science , epilepsy , programming language
A bstract : Amyloid β (Aβ) deposits and neurofibrillary pathology are characteristic features of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The association of Aβ with cerebral vessels is an intriguing feature of AD. While some degree of cerebral Aβ angiopathy involving the leptomeninges and intraparenchymal vessels occurs in almost all cases of AD, the proportion of microvessels within a neocortical region containing deposits of Aβ peptide is not known. In this study, we examined a cohort of clinically and pathologically evaluated AD cases to assess the percentage of cerebral microvessels in the temporal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus associated with the predominant, Aβ 42 form of the peptide. We also assessed whether the distribution and burden of amyloid was related to apolipoprotein E ( APOE ) genotype. Using double immunostaining methods, we surprisingly found that at least 40% of the microvessels in the two brain regions contained Aβ 42 deposits. There was no correlation of such localization with APOE genotype, however, ɛ4 homozygotes revealed a greater burden of Aβ 40 . These observations suggest that high proportions of cortical microvessels are associated with Aβ 42 , which may affect microvascular function.