ISSN:
1741-2358
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Alzheimer's disease, or pre-senile dementia, may occur as early as 40 years. Pathologically, there is, besides a loss of brain weight, a conical atrophy with ventricular dilatation and typical microscopic lesions in the cortex and the hippocampus. Previously, the authors [Sanchez & Gonzalez, 1986] have studied the modifications of the amino acids (AA) composition in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), Even if some were increased without specificity, three of them were decreased significantly in this type of dementia (Serine, Glutamate and Aspartate). Twenty subjects were studied (15 with Alzheimer's disease and 5 non-patients) having a mean age of 72 years. For each subject, two samples were tested (one blood and one saliva sample). In this study we tried to determine if our results would be similar to those previously obtained in the CSF, but in a different biological fluid, the saliva. Of the 13 AA of the saliva, tested by gas-liquid chromatology (Spectra Physics 7100), 3 were increased significantly, and curiously, these were similar to those found to be decreased in CSF. We attempted to find the possible biological and oral repercussions of this dementia, which is the most frequent type in elderly patients.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-2358.1987.tb00292.x
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