Ebinger G, Bruyland M, Martin J J, Herregodts P, Cras P, Michotte Y, Gommé L
J Neurol Sci. 1987 Feb;77(2-3):267-83. doi: 10.1016/0022-510x(87)90128-6.
Norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, serotonin and their major catabolites were measured in 17 regions of the left hemisphere of two brains obtained from two brothers with Alzheimer's disease with very early onset. The clinical diagnosis was confirmed by histological examination of the right hemispheres and brain stems. The quantitative data were compared with our values in normal brains. In the patient suffering from the less severe dementia, there was a severe reduction of the serotonin concentration in all examined neocortical areas and its concentration was even below the detection limit in the nucleus amygdalis, hippocampus, caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus and substantia nigra. In the other patient, who suffered from a more pronounced dementia with myoclonus, the serotonin concentration was below the detection limit in all examined structures. In contrast with these findings, the noradrenergic, adrenergic and dopaminergic systems appeared to be relatively unaffected by the disease process. Focusing our attention on the nuclei wherein the monoamine transmitter systems originate, it appeared that neuronal losses and neurofibrillary tangles clearly predominated in the substantia grisea subependymalis, the nucleus centralis superior and the nucleus raphe dorsalis, origin of the main serotonergic system. The serotonin deficiency sheds light on possible mechanisms of myoclonus in Alzheimer's disease.
对取自两名早发性阿尔茨海默病兄弟的两具大脑左半球的17个区域进行了去甲肾上腺素、肾上腺素、多巴胺、血清素及其主要代谢产物的测定。通过对右半球和脑干的组织学检查证实了临床诊断。将定量数据与我们在正常大脑中的数值进行了比较。在患有较轻痴呆症的患者中，所有检查的新皮质区域血清素浓度均严重降低，其浓度在杏仁核、海马体、尾状核、壳核、苍白球和黑质中甚至低于检测限。在另一名患有更明显痴呆症并伴有肌阵挛的患者中，所有检查结构中的血清素浓度均低于检测限。与这些发现形成对比的是，去甲肾上腺素能、肾上腺素能和多巴胺能系统似乎相对未受疾病进程的影响。将我们的注意力集中在单胺递质系统起源的核上，似乎在室管膜下灰质、中央上核和中缝背核（主要血清素能系统的起源）中，神经元丢失和神经原纤维缠结明显占主导。血清素缺乏揭示了阿尔茨海默病中肌阵挛的可能机制。
