Lactotransferrin immunocytochemistry in Alzheimer and normal human brain.

Lactotransferrin (LF) expression was investigated immunocytochemically in postmortem brain tissues of normal controls and patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The antibody to LF stained some neurons weakly in young adult brains, but it stained many neurons as well as the glia of all types in elderly brains. LF expression was greatly up-regulated in both neurons and glia in affected AD tissue. It was very strongly associated with such extracellular pathological entities as diffuse and consolidated amyloid deposits and extracellular neurofibrillary tangles. In addition, it was identified in a minority of intracellular neurofibrillary tangles, neuropil threads, and degenerative neurites. LF is an iron scavenger and a complement inhibitor. Up-regulation may be a defense mechanism in AD-affected brain tissue.