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Decreased CSF Concentrations of Homovanillic Acid and -Aminobutyric Acid in Alzheimer's Disease

Age- or Disease-Related Modifications?

Silvio R. Bareggi, MD, PhD; Massimo Franceschi, MD; Lucia Bonini, PhD; Luigi Zecca, PhD; Salvatore Smirne, MD

Arch Neurol. 1982;39(11):709-712.

Abstract
• Fifteen patients, 48 to 72 years old, with Alzheimer's disease were studied. Clinical status was assessed by neurologic and neuropsychologic examinations and psychometric testing. Patients were divided into two groups on the basis of clinical assessment: group 1, little mental deterioration, and group 2, serious mental deterioration. Nineteen subjects, 27 to 72 years old, without neurologic disease served as controls. Levels of homovanillic acid (HVA), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), and -aminobutyric acid (GABA) were determined in lumbar CSF by fluorimetric or radioreceptor binding (GABA) methods. The HVA concentrations increased with age in the controls, whereas the GABA levels decreased with age, and 5-HIAA levels were not modified. When compared with the age-matched controls, the patients with Alzheimer's disease showed low concentrations of HVA but not of 5-HIAA or GABA. The decrease in HVA level was more pronounced in patients with severe mental deterioration and therefore appeared to be disease related.

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Pharmacology (Drs Bareggi, Bonini, and Zecca) and Neurology (Drs Franceschi and Smirne), School of Medicine, University of Milan, Italy.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Jan 15, 1982.

Read in part before the Meeting on Aging of the Brain and Dementia, Florence, Italy, Aug 27, 1979, and the 20th Meeting of the Association for Psychophysiological Study of Sleep, Mexico City, March 29, 1980.

Reprint requests to Department of Pharmacology, via Vanvitelli 32, Milan, Italy (Dr Bareggi).

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