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Dementia with Lewy bodies: choline acetyltransferase parallels nucleus basalis pathology
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Dementia with Lewy bodies: choline acetyltransferase parallels nucleus basalis pathology

C F Lippa, T W Smith and E Perry
Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996), v 106(5-6), pp 525-535
1999
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s007020050176
PMID: 10443555
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

Abstract

Aged Aged, 80 and over Alzheimer Disease - enzymology Alzheimer Disease - pathology Brain - enzymology Brain - pathology Cerebral Cortex - enzymology Cerebral Cortex - pathology Choline O-Acetyltransferase - metabolism Dementia - enzymology Dementia - pathology Female Humans Lewy Bodies - pathology Male Middle Aged Neurons - pathology Reference Values Substantia Innominata - enzymology Substantia Innominata - pathology
The biological substrate underlying the reduced cortical choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is incompletely understood. We compared cortical ChAT levels with Lewy body densities and neuronal loss in the nucleus basalis of Meynert (nbM) and cerebral cortex in six DLB, seven Alzheimer's disease (AD), and six control cases. We found greater neuronal loss in the nbM in DLB compared to AD (U = 9.500, p = 0.049). Mean ChAT levels in the cortex were lower in dementia patients than controls (t = 17.500, p = 0.001), and DLB cases had slightly lower ChAT levels than AD cases, but this difference was not significant (t = -0.332, p = 0.746). Overall, cortical ChAT levels correlated inversely with neuronal loss in the nbM (Spearman rank correlation coefficient = -0.53). The correlation between ChAT level and the combined factor of nbM LBs and neuronal loss was -0.59. A similar correlation between ChAT level and the combined factor of nbM neurofibrillary tangles and neuronal loss was -0.72. The correlation between ChAT and the combined factor of nbM LBs and neuronal loss was -0.81 when AD cases were excluded from the analysis. Local cortical pathology was not related to ChAT level. We conclude that neuronal loss and Lewy body formation in the nbM may contribute to the reduction in cortical ChAT in DLB.

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Domestic collaboration
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Web of Science research areas
Clinical Neurology
Neurosciences
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