Lateralization of brain morphologic and cholinergic abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease
J. Moossy, G. S. Zubenko, A. J. Martinez, G. R. Rao, U. Kopp and I. Hanin
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, PA.
The extent of left-right asymmetry in the densities of senile plaques and
neurofibrillary tangles and the levels of the cholinergic enzymes choline
acetyltransferase and acetylcholinesterase were quantified in the middle
frontal and superior temporal cerebral cortex, entorhinal cortex, and
prosubiculum of the hippocampus from 21 patients who died with Alzheimer's
disease. Morphologic lesions were more asymmetrically distributed than
deficits in the cholinergic enzymes. Neither cerebral hemisphere showed
consistently higher densities of senile plaques and neurofibrillary
tangles, or lower levels of choline acetyltransferase and
acetylcholinesterase. Deficits in the cholinergic enzymes tended to
colateralize, while asymmetries of senile plaques and neurofibrillary
tangles did not. Finally, left-right asymmetry in the density of senile
plaques diminished with increasing neuropathologic severity, while similar
evidence for diminishing left-right asymmetry of neurofibrillary tangle
density or cholinergic enzyme activity with increasing severity was not
found.
