Neurochemical changes in white matter. Aged human brain and Alzheimer's disease
M. J. Malone and M. C. Szoke
We report a reduction in isolatable myelin in white matter from regional
areas of aged human brain. This decrease was most prominent in association
subcortex of Alzheimer's material. We also found structural changes in
myelin lipids. These changes involved an increase in unsaturated acyl
chains and suggest an age-related instability of subcortical white matter.
This specific chemical change in myelin glycosphingolipids has been found
in all regional areas of normal aged and Alzheimer's brain material. This
remains an age-related molecular change that seems unrelated to the
pathophysiology of senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type.
