Quantitative analysis of neurofilament proteins in Alzheimer brain by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay system.

The abnormality of cytoskeletal proteins is related to Alzheimer's disease. Because neurofilament proteins (NF) are major cytoskeletal components of neurones, abnormality of NF may be involved in the pathology of disease. In this study, insoluble NF in the grey matter of temporal lobes of Alzheimer and control brains were dissolved in a urea buffer and quantitatively measured by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay system. No apparent quantitative changes of NF-L and NF-H were found between the Alzheimer and control brains, and there were also no significant differences in the mean molar ratio of NF-L to NF-H between them. However, the relative amount of phosphorylated NF-H in Alzheimer brains was increased in comparison with that in control brains. These results suggest that the increase of phosphorylated NF-H might be accompanied with Alzheimer's disease.