The choroid plexus (ChP) produces and is bathed in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which in aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) shows extensive proteomic alterations including evidence of inflammation. Considering inflammation hampers functions of the involved tissues, the CSF abnormalities reported in these conditions are suggestive of ChP injury. Indeed, several studies document ChP damage in aging and AD, which nevertheless remains to be systematically characterized. We here report that the changes elicited in the CSF by AD are consistent with a perturbed aging process and accompanied by aberrant accumulation of inflammatory signals and metabolically active proteins in the ChP. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) imaging shows that these molecular aberrancies correspond to significant remodeling of ChP in AD, which correlates with aging and cognitive decline. Collectively, our preliminary post-mortem and in vivo findings reveal a repertoire of ChP pathologies indicative of its dysfunction and involvement in the pathogenesis of AD. HIGHLIGHTS: Cerebrospinal fluid changes associated with aging are perturbed in Alzheimer's disease Paradoxically, in Alzheimer's disease, the choroid plexus exhibits increased cytokine levels without evidence of inflammatory activation or infiltrates In Alzheimer's disease, increased choroid plexus volumes correlate with age and cognitive performance.
BACKGROUND: The Cogstate Brief Battery (CBB) is a computerized cognitive test battery used commonly to identify cognitive deficits related to Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, AD and normative samples used to understand the sensitivity of the CBB to AD in the clinic have been limited, as have the outcome measures studied. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the sensitivity of CBB outcomes, including potential composite scores, to cognitive impairment in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia due to AD, in carefully selected samples. METHODS: Samples consisted of 4,871 cognitively unimpaired adults and 184 adults who met clinical criteria for MCI (Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) = 0.5) or dementia (CDR > 0.5) due to AD and CBB naive. Speed and accuracy measures from each test were examined, and theoretically- and statistically-derived composites were created. Sensitivity and specificity of classification of cognitive impairment were compared between outcomes. RESULTS: Individual CBB measures of learning and working memory showed high discriminability for AD-related cognitive impairment for CDR 0.5 (AUCs ∼ 0.79-0.88), and CDR > 0.5 (AUCs ∼ 0.89-0.96) groups. Discrimination ability for theoretically derived CBB composite measures was high, particularly for the Learning and Working Memory (LWM) composite (CDR 0.5 AUC = 0.90, CDR > 0.5 AUC = 0.97). As expected, statistically optimized linear composite measures showed strong discrimination abilities albeit similar to the LWM composite. CONCLUSIONS: In older adults, the CBB is effective for discriminating cognitive impairment due to MCI or AD-dementia from unimpaired cognition with the LWM composite providing the strongest sensitivity.
- MeSH
- Alzheimerova nemoc * komplikace diagnóza psychologie MeSH
- kognice MeSH
- kognitivní dysfunkce * diagnóza psychologie MeSH
- kognitivní poruchy * MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- neuropsychologické testy MeSH
- senioři MeSH
- senzitivita a specificita MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- senioři MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Introduction: The typical symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are cognitive impairment, disrupted spatial orientation, behavioral and psychiatric abnormalities, and later motor deficits. Neuropathologically, AD is characterized by deposits of pathological forms of endogenous proteins - amyloid-β, and neurofibrillary tau protein pathology. The latter closely correlates with brain atrophy and clinical impairment. Pharmacological therapies for these pathologies are largely absent, raising the question whether non-pharmacological interventions could be efficacious. Environmental factors can play a role in the manifestation of AD. It is unknown whether enriched environment (EE) can ameliorate the propagation of protein aggregates or their toxic components. Methods: We injected insoluble tau extracts from human brains with AD (600 or 900 ng per animal) into hippocampi of SHR72 transgenic rats that express non-mutated truncated human tau 151-391/4R, but usually do not develop hippocampal tangles. The rats had either standard housing, or could access an EE 5×/week for 3 months. Behavioral analysis included the Morris Water Maze (MWM). Histological analysis was used to assess the propagation of tau pathology. Results: Animals exposed to EE performed better in the MWM (spatial acquisition duration and total distance, probe test); unexposed animals improved over the course of acquisition trials, but their mean performance remained below that of the EE group. Enriched environment abrogated tau propagation and hippocampal tangle formation in the 600 ng group; in the 900 ng group, tangle formation was ∼10-fold of the 600 ng group, and unaffected by EE. Conclusion: Even a small difference in the amount of injected human AD tau can cause a pronounced difference in the number of resulting tangles. EE leads to a noticeably better spatial navigation performance of tau-injected animals. Furthermore, EE seems to be able to slow down tau pathology progression, indicating the possible utility of similar interventions in early stages of AD where tangle loads are still low.
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Česko patří mezi země nejvíce zasažené koronavirovou pandemií – přibližně 16 % obyvatel mělo pozitivní test PCR, 2–3x více lidí prodělalo infekci bez podstoupení tohoto vyšetření. Pro zaměstnavatele je velmi užitečné vědět, kolik zaměstnanců již infekci prodělalo a pro kolik osob je koronavirus nadále rizikový. Za tímto účelem je vhodné vyšetřit IgG protilátky. V současné době je však strategie testování jiná – povinně se provádí testování antigenními testy s cílem hledat infekční osoby bez ohledu na imunitu lidí. Cílem této pilotní studie bylo stanovit počet imunních osob po prodělané infekci na třech klinikách GENNET, s. r. o. Současně se antigenními testy zjišťovala infekce u neočkovaných osob, které neprodělaly COVID-19 nebo jej prodělaly před více než 3 měsíci. Soubor zahrnoval 297 jedinců, z nichž 182 (61,3 %) nebylo očkováno a 115 (38,7 %) bylo po vakcinaci. Z neočkovaných mělo 71 (39 %) osob v anamnéze pozitivní test PCR, dalších 18 (9,9 %) mělo pozitivní IgG protilátky, aniž by věděly o prodělané infekci, a 38 (20,9 %) mělo negativní IgG protilátky. Zatím nevyšetřených bylo 55 (30,2 %) osob. Sečteme-li očkované s osobami s protilátkami, pak imunních bylo 74,3 % zaměstnanců kliniky GENNET Archa, 68 % zaměstnanců kliniky GENNET Kostelní a 58,1 % kliniky GENNET Liberec. Antigenním testem bylo ve 4 kolech vyšetřeno v průměru 153 osob (přičemž 60 z nich mělo protilátky). Infekce byla zjištěna u 2 osob. Obě patřily do skupiny bez vyšetřených protilátek. Žádná osoba s protilátkami neměla pozitivní antigenní test. Lidé, kteří mají protilátky po očkování nebo po infekci, jsou vůči opakované infekci odolné a je u nich nízké riziko, že budou nadále virus šířit. Vyšetřením protilátek zaměstnavatelé získají lepší přehled o situaci na pracovištích. Na základě naší studie doporučujeme zrušit plošné antigenní testování u osob s protilátkami.
The Czech Republic is one of the countries most affected by the coronavirus pandemic – approximately 16% of the population had a positive PCR test, 2–3 times more people underwent infection without undergoing this examination. It is particularly useful for employers to know how many employees have already contracted the infection and for how many people are still at risk of the coronavirus infection. For this purpose, it is appropriate to examine IgG antibodies. However, the testing strategy is different at present – antigen testing is mandatory to look for infectious individuals, regardless of human immunity. The aim of the pilot study was to determine the number of immune individuals after infection at three clinics of GENNET s.r.o. At the same time, unvaccinated individuals who had not had COVID-19 or had undergone it more than three months ago were tested with antigen tests. The cohort included 297 subjects, of whom 182 were not vaccinated (61.3 %) and 115 subjects (38.7 %) were after the vaccination. Of the unvaccinated, 71 people had in the past a positive PCR test (39 %), another 18 people had positive IgG antibodies without infection (9.9 %) and 38 people (20.9 %) had negative IgG antibodies. So far, 55 persons (30.2 %) have not been examined. If we add people vaccinated and people with antibodies, then 74.3 % of employees of the GENNET Archa clinic, 68 % of employees from the GENNET Kostelní clinic and 58.1 % from the GENNET Liberec clinic were immune to infection. 153 individuals on average (60 of whom had antibodies) were tested for the antigen test in four rounds. The infection was detected in two people. Both belonged to the group without tested antibodies. No person with antibodies was tested positive for antigen. People who have antibodies after vaccination or infection are substantially less prone to infection and have a low risk of continuing to spread the virus. By examining antibodies, employers will gain a better overview of the situation in the workplace. Based on our study, we recommend including antibody testing into antiepidemic measures and limit antigen testing to seronegative individuals.
Autism spectrum disorder is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disease. Currently, no biomarker of this disease is known. Diagnosis is performed through observation, standardized behavioral scales, and interviews with parents. In practice, diagnosis is often delayed to the average age of four years or even more which adversely affects a child's perspective. A laboratory method allowing to detect the disorder at earlier stages is of a great need, as this could help the patients to start with treatment at a younger age, even prior to the clinical diagnosis. Recent evidence indicates that metabolomic markers should be considered as diagnostic markers, also serving for further differentiation and characterization of different subgroups of the autism spectrum. In this study, we developed an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous determination of six metabolites in human urine. These metabolites, namely methylguanidine, N-acetyl arginine, inosine, indole-3-acetic acid, indoxyl sulfate and xanthurenic acid were selected as potential biomarkers according to prior metabolomic studies. The analysis was carried out by means of reversed-phase liquid chromatography with gradient elution. Separation of the metabolites was performed on a Phenomenex Luna® Omega Polar C18 (100 × 1.0 mm, 1.6 µm) column at a flow rate of 0.15 mL/min with acetonitrile/water 0.1% formic acid aqueous as the mobile phase. The analysis was performed on a group of children with autism spectrum disorder and age-matched controls. In school children, we have detected disturbances in the levels of oxidative stress markers connected to arginine and purine metabolism, namely methylguanidine and N-acetylargine. Also, products of gut bacteria metabolism, namely indoxyl sulfate and indole-3-acetic acid, were found to be elevated in the patients' group. We can conclude that this newly developed method is fast, sensitive, reliable, and well suited for the quantification of proposed markers.
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether tau phosphorylated at Thr217 (p-tau T217) assay in CSF can distinguish patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) from patients with other dementias and healthy controls. METHODS: We developed and validated a novel Simoa immunoassay to detect p-tau T217 in CSF. There was a total of 190 participants from 3 cohorts with AD (n = 77) and other neurodegenerative diseases (n = 69) as well as healthy participants (n = 44). RESULTS: The p-tau T217 assay (cutoff 242 pg/mL) identified patients with AD with accuracy of 90%, with 78% positive predictive value (PPV), 97% negative predictive value (NPV), 93% sensitivity, and 88% specificity, compared favorably with p-tau T181 ELISA (52 pg/mL), showing 78% accuracy, 58% PPV, 98% NPV, 71% specificity, and 97% sensitivity. The assay distinguished patients with AD from age-matched healthy controls (cutoff 163 pg/mL, 98% sensitivity, 93% specificity), similarly to p-tau T181 ELISA (cutoff 60 pg/mL, 96% sensitivity, 86% specificity). In patients with AD, we found a strong correlation between p-tau T217 and p-tau T181, total tau and β-amyloid 40, but not β-amyloid 42. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that p-tau T217 displayed better diagnostic accuracy than p-tau T181. The data suggest that the new p-tau T217 assay has potential as an AD diagnostic test in clinical evaluation. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class III evidence that a CSF immunoassay for p-tau T217 distinguishes patients with AD from patients with other dementias and healthy controls.
- MeSH
- Alzheimerova nemoc mozkomíšní mok diagnóza MeSH
- amyloidní beta-protein mozkomíšní mok MeSH
- diferenciální diagnóza MeSH
- frontotemporální demence mozkomíšní mok diagnóza MeSH
- imunoanalýza metody normy MeSH
- kohortové studie MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- neurodegenerativní nemoci mozkomíšní mok diagnóza MeSH
- peptidové fragmenty mozkomíšní mok MeSH
- prediktivní hodnota testů MeSH
- primární progresivní afázie mozkomíšní mok diagnóza MeSH
- progresivní supranukleární obrna mozkomíšní mok diagnóza MeSH
- proteiny tau mozkomíšní mok MeSH
- reprodukovatelnost výsledků MeSH
- senioři nad 80 let MeSH
- senioři MeSH
- senzitivita a specificita MeSH
- tauopatie mozkomíšní mok diagnóza MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- senioři nad 80 let MeSH
- senioři MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- hodnotící studie MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
As understanding of the genetics of bipolar disorder increases, controversy endures regarding whether the origins of this illness include early maldevelopment. Clarification would be facilitated by a 'hard' biological index of fetal developmental abnormality, among which craniofacial dysmorphology bears the closest embryological relationship to brain dysmorphogenesis. Therefore, 3D laser surface imaging was used to capture the facial surface of 21 patients with bipolar disorder and 45 control subjects; 21 patients with schizophrenia were also studied. Surface images were subjected to geometric morphometric analysis in non-affine space for more incisive resolution of subtle, localised dysmorphologies that might distinguish patients from controls. Complex and more biologically informative, non-linear changes distinguished bipolar patients from control subjects. On a background of minor dysmorphology of the upper face, maxilla, midface and periorbital regions, bipolar disorder was characterised primarily by the following dysmorphologies: (a) retrusion and shortening of the premaxilla, nose, philtrum, lips and mouth (the frontonasal prominences), with (b) some protrusion and widening of the mandible-chin. The topography of facial dysmorphology in bipolar disorder indicates disruption to early development in the frontonasal process and, on embryological grounds, cerebral dysmorphogenesis in the forebrain, most likely between the 10th and 15th week of fetal life.
- MeSH
- analýza hlavních komponent MeSH
- bipolární porucha komplikace diagnostické zobrazování MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- kraniofaciální abnormality komplikace diagnostické zobrazování MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- mozek diagnostické zobrazování MeSH
- obličej diagnostické zobrazování MeSH
- schizofrenie diagnostické zobrazování MeSH
- zobrazování trojrozměrné metody MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Neurotransmitters, small molecules widely distributed in the central nervous system are essential in transmitting electrical signals across neurons via chemical communication. Dysregulation of these chemical signaling molecules is linked to numerous neurological diseases including tauopathies. In this study, a precise and reliable liquid chromatography method was established with tandem mass spectrometry detection for the simultaneous determination of aspartic acid, asparagine, glutamic acid, glutamine, γ-aminobutyric acid, N-acetyl-l-aspartic acid, pyroglutamic acid, acetylcholine and choline in human brain tissue. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of human brain tissues from three different tauopathies; corticobasal degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy and parkinsonism-dementia complex of Guam. Neurotransmitters were analyzed on ultra-high performance chromatography (UHPLC) using an ethylene bridged hybrid amide column coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Identification and quantification of neurotransmitters was carried out by ESI+ mass spectrometry detection. We optimized sample preparation to achieve simple and fast extraction of all nine analytes. Our method exhibited an excellent linearity for all analytes (all coefficients of determination >0.99), with inter-day and intra-day precision yielding relative standard deviations 3.2%-11.2% and an accuracy was in range of 92.6%-104.3%. The present study, using the above method, is the first to demonstrate significant alterations of brain neurotransmitters caused by pathological processes in the brain tissues of patient with three different tauopathies.
- MeSH
- chromatografie kapalinová metody MeSH
- hmotnostní spektrometrie metody MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- limita detekce MeSH
- lineární modely MeSH
- mozek - chemie fyziologie MeSH
- neurotransmiterové látky analýza metabolismus MeSH
- reprodukovatelnost výsledků MeSH
- tauopatie metabolismus MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Research increasingly suggests that nitric oxide (NO) plays a role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. One important line of evidence comes from genetic studies, which have repeatedly detected an association between the neuronal isoform of nitric oxide synthase (nNOS or NOS1) and schizophrenia. However, the pathogenetic pathways linking nNOS, NO, and the disorder remain poorly understood. A deficit in sensorimotor gating is considered to importantly contribute to core schizophrenia symptoms such as psychotic disorganization and thought disturbance. We selected three candidate nNOS polymorphisms (Ex1f-VNTR, rs6490121 and rs41279104), associated with schizophrenia and cognition in previous studies, and tested their association with the efficiency of sensorimotor gating in healthy human adults. We found that risk variants of Ex1f-VNTR and rs6490121 (but not rs41279104) were associated with a weaker prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle reflex, a standard measure of sensorimotor gating. Furthermore, the effect of presence of risk variants in Ex1f-VNTR and rs6490121 was additive: PPI linearly decreased with increasing number of risk alleles, being highest in participants with no risk allele, while lowest in individuals who carry three risk alleles. Our findings indicate that NO is involved in the regulation of sensorimotor gating, and highlight one possible pathogenetic mechanism for NO playing a role in the development of schizophrenia psychosis.
- MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- exony MeSH
- jednonukleotidový polymorfismus * MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- minisatelitní repetice MeSH
- oxid dusnatý fyziologie MeSH
- prepulsní inhibice genetika MeSH
- schizofrenie genetika MeSH
- senzorický gating genetika MeSH
- synthasa oxidu dusnatého, typ I genetika MeSH
- úleková reakce genetika MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Purpose of Review: In the context of human developmental conditions, we review the conceptualisation of schizophrenia as a neurodevelopmental disorder, the status of craniofacial dysmorphology as a clinically accessible index of brain dysmorphogenesis, the ability of genetically modified mouse models of craniofacial dysmorphology to inform on the underlying dysmorphogenic process and how geometric morphometric techniques in mutant mice can extend quantitative analysis. Recent Findings: Mutant mice with disruption of neuregulin-1, a gene associated meta-analytically with risk for schizophrenia, constitute proof-of-concept studies of murine facial dysmorphology in a manner analogous to clinical studies in schizophrenia. Geometric morphometric techniques informed on the topography of facial dysmorphology and identified asymmetry therein. Summary: Targeted disruption in mice of genes involved in individual components of developmental processes and analysis of resultant facial dysmorphology using geometric morphometrics can inform on mechanisms of dysmorphogenesis at levels of incisiveness not possible in human subjects.
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- přehledy MeSH
