Dietary fats significantly influence the survival of penumbral neurons in a rat model of chronic ischemic by modifying lipid mediators, inflammatory biomarkers, NOS production, and redox-dependent apoptotic signals.

Objective: Brain stroke is the third most important cause of death in developed countries. We studied the effect of different dietary lipids on the outcome of a permanent ischemic stroke rat model.

Methods: Wistar rats were fed diets containing 7% commercial oils (S, soybean; O, olive; C, coconut; G, grape seed) for 35 d.

Peripheral markers in neurodegenerative patients and their first-degree relatives.

We have determined various biomarkers in the peripheral blood of Alzheimer, Parkinson and vascular dementia patients by comparing the samples with those of first-degree relatives and control subjects. Our results, together with correlation studies using data from the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), suggest that the clinical evaluation of the nitrite (NOx) concentration in Alzheimer patients should be complemented by assays of protein carbonyls (PCs) levels, the ratio of reduced to oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG) in plasma, PCs in erythrocytes and PCs and calcium content in leukocytes. For Parkinson patients it would be useful to determine NOx, thiobarbituric-acid reactive substances (TBARS) and PCs in erythrocytes, and NOx and TBARS en leukocytes.

Clinical utility of copper, ceruloplasmin, and metallothionein plasma determinations in human neurodegenerative patients and their first-degree relatives.

The concentration of plasma copper, ceruloplasmin (CRP), non-ceruloplasmin-bound Cu (NCBC), and metallothioneins (MTs) were studied as putative biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases in patients and in their first-degree relatives. We found increased levels of Cu in the plasma of Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), and vascular dementia (VD) patients, and the increase observed in VD group was linked to the evolution of the disease. CRP was also elevated in response to the inflammatory component of the diseases, however, a correlation with illness progression was only observed in VD patients.