期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2004
卷号：101
期号：1
页码：284-289
DOI：10.1073/pnas.2635903100
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) studies have found that patients with Alzheimer's dementia (AD) have abnormally low rates of cerebral glucose metabolism in posterior cingulate, parietal, temporal, and prefrontal cortex. We previously found that cognitively normal, late-middle-aged carriers of the apolipoprotein E {varepsilon}4 allele, a common susceptibility gene for late-onset Alzheimer's dementia, have abnormally low rates of glucose metabolism in the same brain regions as patients with probable AD. We now consider whether {varepsilon}4 carriers have these regional brain abnormalities as relatively young adults. Apolipoprotein E genotypes were established in normal volunteers 20-39 years of age. Clinical ratings, neuropsychological tests, magnetic resonance imaging, and PET were performed in 12 {varepsilon}4 heterozygotes, all with the {varepsilon}3/{varepsilon}4 genotype, and 15 noncarriers of the {varepsilon}4 allele, 12 of whom were individually matched for sex, age, and educational level. An automated algorithm was used to generate an aggregate surface-projection map that compared regional PET measurements in the two groups. The young adult {varepsilon}4 carriers and noncarriers did not differ significantly in their sex, age, educational level, clinical ratings, or neuropsychological test scores. Like previously studied patients with probable AD and late-middle-aged {varepsilon}4 carriers, the young {varepsilon}4 carriers had abnormally low rates of glucose metabolism bilaterally in the posterior cingulate, parietal, temporal, and prefrontal cortex. Carriers of a common Alzheimer's susceptibility gene have functional brain abnormalities in young adulthood, several decades before the possible onset of dementia.
