Glycan analysis of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents.

Erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs) are a group of therapeutic glycoproteins used to treat anaemia caused by chronic kidney disease or chemotherapy. A variety of ESA products are available in the European Union, including innovator, biosimilar and second-generation medicines. Glycosylation is a critical quality attribute of ESA products, as it has a crucial influence upon in vivo biological activity.

Dynamin protein in stroke and vascular dementia.

Damage to sub-cortical white matter is a key substrate of vascular dementia (VaD) leading to deficits in executive function and cognitive processing speed. Dynamin1 is a 100 kDa protein, accounting for 0.4% of the total brain protein, and has a central role in many intracellular processes such as synaptic vesicle trafficking and recycling.

[Biomarkers in spinal fluid of patients with dementia].

Background: We wanted to assess whether biomarkers abeta42, tau and p-tau could differentiate between Alzheimer's disease and other dementia illnesses.

Material And Methods: Following systematic Pubmed searches, 25 articles which reported sensitivity and specificity for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias were included.

Results: Most studies showed significant differences for all three markers between Alzheimer's disease and other dementia illnesses, except abeta42 which did not differ between Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Levels of sAPPα and sAPPβ in Lewy Body and Alzheimer's Disease: Clinical and Neurochemical Correlates.

We measured cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of the soluble isoforms of amyloid precursor protein (APP; sAPPα sAPPβ) and other CSF biomarkers in 107 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), dementia with Lewy body dementia (DLB), Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), and normal controls (NC) using commercial kits. DLB and PDD were combined in a Lewy body dementia group (LBD). No differences were observed in sAPPα and sAPPβ levels between the groups.

Identification of novel α-synuclein isoforms in human brain tissue by using an online nanoLC-ESI-FTICR-MS method.

Parkinson's disease (PD) and Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) are neurodegenerative diseases that are characterized by intra-neuronal inclusions of Lewy bodies in distinct brain regions. These inclusions consist mainly of aggregated α-synuclein (α-syn) protein. The present study used immunoprecipitation combined with nanoflow liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to high resolution electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICR-MS/MS) to determine known and novel isoforms of α-syn in brain tissue homogenates.

CSF amyloid β38 as a novel diagnostic marker for dementia with Lewy bodies.

Background: The clinical distinction between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is sometimes difficult, particularly in mild cases. Although CSF markers such as amyloid β42 (Aβ42) and P-tau can distinguish between AD and normal controls, their ability to distinguish between AD and DLB is not adequate.

Objective: This study aims to investigate whether CSF markers, in particular levels of Aβ38, can differentiate between mild AD and DLB.

CSF amyloid-beta and tau proteins, and cognitive performance, in early and untreated Parkinson's disease: the Norwegian ParkWest study.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology is found in a considerable portion of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), particularly those with early dementia (PDD). Altered cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau proteins have been found in PDD, with intermediate changes for Aβ42 in non-demented PD. The authors investigated whether AD-related CSF protein levels are altered and relate to neuropsychological performance in early, untreated PD.

CSF biomarkers and incipient Alzheimer disease in patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Context: Small single-center studies have shown that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers may be useful to identify incipient Alzheimer disease (AD) in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but large-scale multicenter studies have not been conducted.

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of CSF beta-amyloid(1-42) (Abeta42), total tau protein (T-tau), and tau phosphorylated at position threonine 181 (P-tau) for predicting incipient AD in patients with MCI.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The study had 2 parts: a cross-sectional study involving patients with AD and controls to identify cut points, followed by a prospective cohort study involving patients with MCI, conducted 1990-2007.

Neuropsychiatric correlates of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease.

Background: The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers and neuropsychiatric symptoms in people with Alzheimer's disease. Psychosis, agitation, apathy and depression were assessed using standardised measures in 32 patients with mild Alzheimer's disease.

Methods: The levels of the 42-amino-acid form of beta-amyloid (A beta(1-42)), tau and p-tau (phosphorylated at threonine 181) were quantified using the conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.

Inflammatory mediators in the frontal lobe of patients with mixed and vascular dementia.

Vascular dementia (VaD) accounts for about 20% of all dementias, and vascular risk is a key factor in more than 40% of people with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Little is known about inflammatory processes in the brains of these individuals. We have examined inflammatory mediators (interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-1alpha, IL-6 and tumour necrosis factor alpha) and chemokines (macrophage inflammatory protein 1, monocyte chemo-attractant protein (MCP)-1 and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor) in brain homogenates from grey and white matter of the frontal cortex (Brodmann area 9) from patients with VaD (n = 11), those with concurrent VaD and AD (mixed dementia; n = 8) and from age-matched controls (n = 13) using ELISA assays.

Temporal and region-dependent changes in muscarinic M4 receptors in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex of adrenalectomized rats.

Long-term adrenalectomy induces a dramatic loss of cells in the dentate gyrus and CA1-CA4 fields of the hippocampus resulting in an impairment of cognitive functions such as spatial learning, memory and exploratory behaviour. Muscarinic M1 and M4 receptor levels in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex of adult male Wistar rats were examined 3, 14, 30, 90, and 150 days after adrenalectomy. Receptor levels in the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus were determined by quantitative autoradiography using 125I-M1-toxin-1 and 125I-M4-toxin-1, M1 and M4 subtype selective antagonists, respectively.

Loss of muscarinic M4 receptors in spinal cord of arthritic rats: implications for a role of M4 receptors in pain response.

Changes in the levels of muscarinic M4 receptors in spinal cord of acute and chronic arthritic rats (animal models of pain) were studied by receptor autoradiography using muscarinic M4 receptor subtype selective ligand. Arthritis was induced in female Lewis rats by single intradermal injection of heat-killed Mycobacterium butyricum and sacrificed 12 days (acute group) and 30 days (chronic and control groups) after induction of arthritis. Our results demonstrate significant reduction in the level of M4 receptors in the spinal cord (Rexed laminae I-X) of acute and chronic arthritic rats compared to controls.

Loss of muscarinic M4 receptors in hippocampus of Alzheimer patients.

We assessed muscarinic M(1), M(2) and M(4) receptor subtypes in the hippocampus of Alzheimer's and control brains by receptor autoradiography using ligands such as [(125)I]muscarinic toxin-1 ([(125)I]MT-1, M(1) selective), [(3)H]AFDX-384 (M(2) partially selective) and [(125)I]muscarinic toxin 4 ([(125)I]M(4) toxin-1, M(4) selective). Our results revealed a significant decrease in muscarinic M(4) receptor binding in the dentate gyrus and CA4 regions of brain sections from Alzheimer's patients compared to controls. No changes in the density of M(1) or M(2) receptor binding were observed.