Wu C-W, Liao P-C, Lin C, Kuo C-J, Chen S-T, Chen H-I, Kuo Y-M
Departments of Cell Biology and Anatomy, NAtional Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC.
J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2003 Jun;110(6):641-9. doi: 10.1007/s00702-002-0809-1.
Recent studies indicate a possible link between serum cholesterol level, beta-amyloid (Abeta) peptide concentrations, and the incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the present report, the effects of dietary cholesterol on Abeta and apolipoprotein E (APOE) levels in several brain regions were examined using diet-induced hypercholesterolemic rabbits as the animal model. Increased dietary cholesterol levels increased Abeta concentrations in temporal cortex (p = 0.02). A similar trend was observed in the frontal cortex (p = 0.06), yet not in the cerebellum. Interestingly, the regional levels of Abeta in the hypercholesterolemic rabbit paralleled the amyloid pathology observed in AD brain. Elevated APOE levels were also noticed in temporal (p < 0.01) and frontal (p < 0.01) cortices, but not in cerebellum, in the rabbit fed with cholesterol-abundant diet. These results suggest that high serum cholesterol levels could induce the elevation of brain APOE, which may play a role in aggravating the Abeta accumulation.
近期研究表明，血清胆固醇水平、β-淀粉样蛋白（Aβ）肽浓度与阿尔茨海默病（AD）的发病率之间可能存在联系。在本报告中，以饮食诱导的高胆固醇血症兔作为动物模型，研究了膳食胆固醇对几个脑区中Aβ和载脂蛋白E（APOE）水平的影响。膳食胆固醇水平升高会使颞叶皮质中的Aβ浓度增加（p = 0.02）。额叶皮质中也观察到类似趋势（p = 0.06），但小脑未出现这种情况。有趣的是，高胆固醇血症兔脑区的Aβ水平与AD脑中观察到的淀粉样病理变化相似。在喂食富含胆固醇饮食的兔子中，颞叶（p < 0.01）和额叶（p < 0.01）皮质中的APOE水平也升高，但小脑未出现这种情况。这些结果表明，高血清胆固醇水平可能会诱导脑内APOE升高，这可能在加重Aβ积累方面发挥作用。
