Concentrations of several proteins characteristic of nervous tissue in cerebral cortex of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Concentrations of nervous tissue-related proteins, including S-100 proteins (alpha and beta), enolase isozymes (alpha and gamma), superoxide dismutase (SOD) isozymes (Cu/Zn SOD and Mn SOD), and GTP-binding proteins (alpha subunits of GO and Gi2) were determined in the four cerebrocortical regions (superior frontal gyrus of frontal lobe, parahippocampal gyrus of temporal lobe, superior parietal lobule of parietal lobe, and calcarine area of occipital lobe) of patients with Alzheimer's disease, and age-matched control and young control patients by means of enzyme immunoassay methods. Although the temporal cortex of some patients with Alzheimer's disease (4/7) showed apparently enhanced S-100 beta with decreased gamma-enolase, concentrations of neuronal (neuron-specific gamma-enolase and the alpha subunit of GO) and glial (S-100 beta, S-100 alpha, and alpha-enolase) marker proteins, and both SODs in each region were not significantly different between patients with Alzheimer's disease and the age-matched controls. Concentrations of Gi2 alpha also showed similar values in the cerebral cortices of young and aged controls and patients with Alzheimer's disease. However, when compared with young controls, S-100 beta in the four regions of patients with Alzheimer's disease and aged controls, and Cu/Zn SOD in frontal cortex of patients with Alzheimer's disease were significantly enhanced (P less than 0.01).