Vågberg Mattias, Norgren Niklas, Dring Ann, Lindqvist Thomas, Birgander Richard, Zetterberg Henrik, Svenningsson Anders
Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Neuroscience, Section of Neuroscience, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
UmanDiagnostics AB, Umeå, Sweden.
PLoS One. 2015 Aug 28;10(8):e0135886. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135886. eCollection 2015.
Neurofilament light (NFL) and Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) are integral parts of the axonal and astrocytal cytoskeletons respectively and are released into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in cases of cellular damage. In order to interpret the levels of these biomarkers in disease states, knowledge on normal levels in the healthy is required. Another biomarker for neurodegeneration is brain atrophy, commonly measured as brain parenchymal fraction (BPF) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Potential correlations between levels of NFL, GFAP and BPF in healthy individuals have not been investigated.
To present levels of NFL and GFAP in healthy individuals stratified for age, and investigate the correlation between them as well as their correlation with BPF.
The CSF was analysed in 53 healthy volunteers aged 21 to 70 (1 sample missing for GFAP analysis) and 48 of the volunteers underwent determination of BPF using MRI.
Mean (±SD) NFL was 355 ng/L (±214), mean GFAP was 421 ng/L (±129) and mean BPF was 0.867 (±0.035). All three biomarkers correlated with age. NFL also correlated with both GFAP and BPF. When controlled for age, only the correlation between NFL and GFAP retained statistical significance.
This study presents data on age-stratified levels of NFL and GFAP in the CSF of healthy individuals. There is a correlation between levels of NFL and GFAP and both increase with age. A correlation between NFL and BPF was also found, but did not retain statistical significance if controlled for age.
神经丝轻链（NFL）和胶质纤维酸性蛋白（GFAP）分别是轴突和星形胶质细胞细胞骨架的组成部分，在细胞损伤时会释放到脑脊液（CSF）中。为了解释这些生物标志物在疾病状态下的水平，需要了解健康人群的正常水平。另一种神经退行性变的生物标志物是脑萎缩，通常使用磁共振成像（MRI）测量脑实质分数（BPF）。尚未研究健康个体中NFL、GFAP水平与BPF之间的潜在相关性。
呈现按年龄分层的健康个体中NFL和GFAP的水平，并研究它们之间的相关性以及与BPF的相关性。
对53名年龄在21至70岁的健康志愿者的脑脊液进行分析（GFAP分析缺失1个样本），其中48名志愿者接受了MRI测定BPF。
NFL的平均（±标准差）为355 ng/L（±214），GFAP的平均水平为421 ng/L（±129），BPF的平均水平为0.867（±0.035）。所有这三种生物标志物均与年龄相关。NFL还与GFAP和BPF均相关。在控制年龄后，只有NFL与GFAP之间的相关性保留统计学意义。
本研究提供了健康个体脑脊液中按年龄分层的NFL和GFAP水平的数据。NFL和GFAP水平之间存在相关性，且两者均随年龄增加。还发现NFL与BPF之间存在相关性，但在控制年龄后不保留统计学意义。
