Brief information on an early phase-II study with deprenyl in demented patients.

Eleven elderly female patients (73-88 yrs) suffering from senile dementia of Alzheimer type (7 cases) and from multi-infarct dementia (4 cases) were treated with (-) deprenyl (Jumex) for 3 and 6 months respectively. Improvement was most frequent in SDAT patients and most pronounced as regards self-care, short-term memory, mental alertness and uncooperativeness.

Altered lymphocyte acetylcholinesterase activity in patients with senile dementia.

Reductions in the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity of certain brain areas in patients with senile dementia of Alzheimer type (SDAT) have been found to correlate with the severity of the disease, suggesting a central cholinergic lesion. Since AChE is expressed on the surface of various blood cells too, the AChE activity of lymphocytes and erythrocytes was determined to test the possibility whether the cholinergic lesion is also reflected on these readily available cells. The AChE activity of lymphocytes in SDAT and in alcoholic dementia (AD) were significantly lower as compared to those of the age-matched healthy volunteers. In contrast, there was no significant difference in the activity of lymphocyte AChE between age-matched healthy controls and patients with multi-infarct dementia of vascular origin (MID). No changes could be demonstrated in the erythrocyte AChE activities of the patients studied, and the age-matched healthy individuals, when comparing them to the healthy blood donors. The AChE activity of lymphocytes may thus be a useful marker to follow the alterations in the metabolism of acetylcholine (ACh) in the central nervous system (CNS) of different types of dementia.

Serum and CSF cholinesterase activity in various kinds of dementia.

The activity of acetyl- and butyrylcholinesterase was determined in serum and CSF of controls and patients suffering from different types of dementia. A statistically significant decrease in the activities of both esterases was observed in CSF of demented patients, however, primary degenerative and vascular dementia did not differ in their CSF cholinesterase levels. Compared to age-matched controls the serum butyrylcholinesterase activity was also significantly lowered in the overall dementia group. No typical serum and CSF cholinesterase isoenzyme pattern was found for dementia or any of its subgroups. It is concluded that the cholinesterase levels reflect metabolic alterations associated with dementia as a collective group but cannot be used for differential diagnosis of subgroups.

[Function of the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier and selected biochemical cerebrospinal fluid components in senile dementias of various types]. / Blut-Liquor-Schrankenfunktion und ausgewählte biochemische Liquor-komponenten bei Altersdemenzen verschiedenen Typs.

Some selected CSF and serum components were determined in demental patients classified by the Hachinski test into vascular and primary-degenerative groups. As for the vascular group, the frequency distribution of the serum/CSF albumin ratios characterizing the barrier function corresponds to that of controls, in primary-degenerative cases, however, it is shifted to higher values. In vascular dementia higher CSF LAP activities pointing to actual cell damaging processes in the CNS were found. The concentrations of lactate and some trace metals in CSF and serum are not suitable for differential diagnostic purposes.