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Aging and Alzheimer's disease: protease inhibitors in cerebrospinal fluid
C Delamarche1, F Berger, L Gallard
1INSERM U 298, Centre Hospitalier Regional, Angers, France.
Abstract:
Recent advances suggested that proteases and their inhibitors could be implicated in the genesis and/or maturation of insoluble deposits associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study was designed to measure the level of alpha 1-antichymotrypsin (ACT) and alpha 1-antitrypsin (AT) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with AD and nondemented humans at various ages. Our analysis failed to demonstrate a significant relationship between inhibitor content and disease. However, a positive correlation was observed between age and the ACT level for the normal control group. Such observation suggests a specific association of ACT with the mechanisms of brain aging.