Although the etiology of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is unknown, a decline in mental health and onset of dementia are clinical hallmarks of the disease. In this study we propose to evaluate in detail, in a longitudinal fashion, the behavioral, cognitive and psychiatric deficits of a well-defined clinical population of AD and control patients who will be followed to autopsy. Our approach bridges the gap between more psychometric measures of deficits and problems of everyday functioning encountered by the patient. As AD is a cellular disease of the CNS we shall use tissue obtained at autopsy to correlate cellular and molecular changes with the clinical data. Recent studies have defined subsets of neurons selectively vulnerable in AD. With tissue from these AD 'target' sites we shall use a new approach to AD, applying monoclonal antibody technology as an analytic tool to define the antigenic and biochemical profile of AD vulnerable cells. Our large panel of 69 antibodies reactive with human CNS tissue, including AD 'target' cells are available for this study. AD 'target' cells will also be examined for AD and aging changes in receptors, and neurotransmitters including those of cholinergic function. With these quantitative methods we plan to link cellular changes to clinically significant events, and verify their importance to the clinical syndrome of dementia. Such information would be invaluable in providing new markers in the diagnosis and psychiatric management of the patient, and contribute to the understanding of the etiology of AD.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH039145-03
Application #
3377131
Study Section
(PCBB)
Project Start
1984-06-01
Project End
1989-05-31
Budget Start
1986-06-01
Budget End
1987-05-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
1986
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Southern California
Department
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
041544081
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90033
Waters, C H; Miller, C A (1994) Autosomal dominant Lewy body parkinsonism in a four-generation family. Ann Neurol 35:59-64
Williams, C; Hinton, D R; Miller, C A (1994) Somataglycan-S: a neuronal surface proteoglycan defines the spinocerebellar system. J Neurochem 62:1615-30
Martin, J H; Benzer, S; Rudnicka, M et al. (1993) Calphotin: a Drosophila photoreceptor cell calcium-binding protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 90:1531-5
Jensen, N A; Rodriguez, M L; Garvey, J S et al. (1993) Transgenic mouse model for neurocristopathy: Schwannomas and facial bone tumors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 90:3192-6
Sinha, U K; Hollen, K M; Miller, C A (1993) Abnormal neuritic architecture identified by Di-I in Pick's disease. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 52:411-8
Samuel, W A; Henderson, V W; Miller, C A (1991) Severity of dementia in Alzheimer disease and neurofibrillary tangles in multiple brain regions. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 5:1-11
Adams Jr, J D; Klaidman, L K; Odunze, I N et al. (1991) Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Brain levels of glutathione, glutathione disulfide, and vitamin E. Mol Chem Neuropathol 14:213-26
Williams, C; Kozlowski, M A; Hinton, D R et al. (1990) Degeneration of spinocerebellar neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Ann Neurol 27:215-25
Atkinson, R D; Miller, C A; Garner, J A (1989) Axonal transport of neuronal antigens characteristic of subpopulations of central nervous system (CNS) neurons. Metab Brain Dis 4:157-67
Blanks, J C; Hinton, D R; Sadun, A A et al. (1989) Retinal ganglion cell degeneration in Alzheimer's disease. Brain Res 501:364-72

Showing the most recent 10 out of 12 publications