Christov Alexander, Ottman J, Hamdheydari L, Grammas Paula
Garrison Institute on Aging, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 3601 4th Street Stop 9424, Lubbock, Texas 79430, USA.
Curr Alzheimer Res. 2008 Aug;5(4):392-5. doi: 10.2174/156720508785132334.
Brain microvascular alterations are thought to contribute to the development of stroke and dementia. Structural changes in capillaries of elderly patients correlate positively with advanced age and dementia. The objective of this study is to use laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy to compare structural (collagen content) and functional (apoptosis) parameters in brain tissues and isolated vessels of AD patients to age-matched controls. Our results show significantly higher fluorescent labeling for apoptosis in AD vessels compared to controls. Also, there is significantly higher autofluorescence (reflecting levels of collagen and other proteins that autofluoresce) in AD brain and vessels compared to controls. Western blot analysis of collagen subtypes shows elevated type I and type III and reduced type IV levels in AD vessels. These data demonstrate that changes in the amount and type of collagen occur in AD brain and suggest that cerebral vessel injury is part of AD pathology.
脑微血管改变被认为与中风和痴呆的发生有关。老年患者毛细血管的结构变化与高龄和痴呆呈正相关。本研究的目的是使用激光诱导荧光光谱法，比较阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者脑组织和分离血管与年龄匹配的对照组在结构（胶原蛋白含量）和功能（细胞凋亡）参数方面的差异。我们的结果显示，与对照组相比，AD血管中细胞凋亡的荧光标记明显更高。此外，与对照组相比，AD脑和血管中的自发荧光（反映自发荧光的胶原蛋白和其他蛋白质水平）也明显更高。胶原蛋白亚型的蛋白质印迹分析显示，AD血管中I型和III型胶原蛋白水平升高，IV型胶原蛋白水平降低。这些数据表明，AD脑中胶原蛋白的数量和类型发生了变化，并提示脑血管损伤是AD病理学的一部分。
