Behavioral and psychological symptoms in Alzheimer's disease. Relation between apathy and regional cerebral perfusion.

Fundamental and therapeutic research in Alzheimer's disease (AD) focused for a long time exclusively on cognitive aspects. However, AD also frequently involves complex disorders of affect and behavior, which are currently grouped under the heading 'behavioral and psychological signs and symptoms of dementia' (BPSSD). Several rating tools have been developed over the years on the basis of a variety of source data.

Relationships between low red blood cell count and clinical response to fluoxetine in depressed elderly patients.

Biological variables specifically linked with serotonin deficiency were assessed in geriatric depression. Sixteen depressed patients, all > or = 60 years of age and with scores on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) > or = 20, were treated with fluoxetine (20 mg/day) for 42 days. Biological variables measured on days 1 and 42 included whole blood and plasma serotonin, plasma total and free tryptophan, and platelet paroxetine and ketanserin binding.

[Plasma tryptophan in a protein controlled diet in depressed patients].

Cerebral serotonin is synthetized from its blood precursor: tryptophan (TRP), an essential amino acid (6). TRP has been extensively studied since serotonine has been reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of depression (9). In one hand, brain serotonin content depends on regulation by plasma large neutral amino acids (LNAA): leucine, isoleucine, valine, tyrosine and phenylalanine that compete with TRP to cross over the blood brain barrier (7, 13).

[A scale for clinical evaluation of serotonergic deficit in elderly people].

In contrast to young adults, symptoms of serotonergic deficiency are relatively undocumented in elderly subjects. Specific abnormalities of serotonergic neurotransmission are nevertheless remarkable and have clinically important repercussions in affect, as well as in cognition and behavior. The aim of this study was to develop a scale for the clinical and transnosographic quantitation of serotonergic deficiency in elderly persons (5-HT scale).