CYTOCHROME OXIDASE DEFICIENCY IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

阿尔茨海默病(AD)是老年人的主要健康问题之一 人口老龄化。渐进性记忆力衰退是其标志之一 疾病的临床特征，并导致患者遭受AS 也是照顾者。目前尚无有效的治疗方法，其病因 仍然不为人知。我们机构的初步工作已经产生了 线粒体缺陷酶--细胞色素氧化酶的鉴定 (CytOx)，在小样本的血小板和脑组织中 广告。CytOx是线粒体电子传递中的一种复合酶 对正常神经元功能至关重要的链，它是假设的 这一缺陷可能代表了一种特定于 广告。这种缺陷是否从根本上与痴呆症的程度有关 记忆障碍的程度尚不清楚。拟议的项目将 包括100名诊断为阿尔茨海默病的患者，50名健康对照， 以及50名帕金森氏症患者。首先，敏感度和 将评估细胞氧合酶缺乏在AD中的特异性。第二，我们将 检查痴呆症程度和记忆损害程度之间的关系 AD组和对照组的CytOx水平。其他分析将 关注细胞氧合酶和记忆功能的纵向变化 在两年的时间里，为了检查是否减少了 在CytOx中，值与认知和认知能力的伴随变化有关 记忆功能。认知水平和认知能力之间有很强的相关性 预计会出现记忆障碍和细胞氧合酶缺乏症。这些研究可能 结果是一种有用的AD诊断测试，除了增强我们的 了解记忆力减退在疾病中的作用，并可能有进一步 对未来潜在的治疗途径的影响。

Alzheimer's disease (AD) represents one of the major health problems of the older population. Progressive memory decline is one of the hallmark clinical features of the disorder, and results in suffering for patients as well as caregivers. No effective treatment is available, and the etiology remains unknown. Preliminary work at our institution has resulted in the identification of a deficient mitochondrial enzyme, cytochrome oxidase (CytOx), in platelets and brain tissue of small samples of patients with AD. CytOx is a complex enzyme within the mitochondrial electron transport chain that is essential to normal neuronal function, and it is hypothesized that this deficiency may represent a biochemical lesion that is specific to AD. Whether this deficiency if fundamentally related to level of dementia and degree of memory disturbance is unknown. The proposed project will include 100 patients with a diagnosis of probable AD, 50 healthy controls, and 50 patients with Parkinson's disease. First, the sensitivity and specificity of CytOx deficiency in AD will be evaluated. Second, we will examine the degree of dementia and level of memory impairment in relation to CytOx levels in the AD and control groups. Additional analyses will focus on the longitudinal changes in CytOx and memory functioning in each of the groups over a two year period in order to examine whether decreases in CytOx values are associated with concomitant changes in cognitive and memory function. Strong relationships between level of cognitive and memory dysfunction and CytOx deficiency are expected. These studies may result in a useful diagnostic test for AD, in addition to enhancing our understanding of memory decline in the disease, and may have further implications for potential treatment avenues in the future.