The primary goal of the Tissue and Peptide Resources Core will be to provide well characterized tissue specimens and supporting data for the analysis of the neurobiology of aging and dementia. This will greatly facilitate work relating basic research to clinical issues and add to our understanding of basic mechanisms occurring during human brain aging. Our increased understanding of the changes that accompany aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) necessitates that human tissues be precisely characterized with respect to the locus, extent, and nature of neuropathology present, clinical manifestations of dementia, premortem conditions, medications, and agonal state, as well as the anatomical areas examined and the post-mortem interval. The-core will obtain well- characterized AD cases with different degrees of disease severity, mixed dementias (AD and Vascular) and Vascular dementia cases. Further, the core has begun an initiative to obtain control and transitional cases where the neuropathological criteria for AD have not yet been met. Specimens will be characterized for the nature of pathology, genotype (for apolipoprotein E), and the relationships of cellular and molecular changes to clinical and brain imaging data. This will be facilitated through the use of a central relationaI database under the auspices of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC). Further, core staff will assist investigators in case selection and will work to coordinate research projects within the program. In addition, the core will synthesize and make available well-characterized peptides for individual investigator's use. This peptide component is presented w+thin this core since its budget is modest and it relates to overall resource distribution to investigators.
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