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Updated: Mar 20, 2026

Evaluation of Synapse Density in Hippocampal Rodent Brain Slices
Published on: October 6, 2017
Synaptic proteins predict cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia
Erika Bereczki1, Paul T Francis2, David Howlett2
1Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Center for Alzheimer Research, Division for Neurogeriatrics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Introduction:
Our objective was to compare the levels of three synaptic proteins involved in different steps of the synaptic transmission: Rab3A, SNAP25, and neurogranin, in three common forms of dementia: Alzheimer's disease (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and Parkinson's disease dementia.
Methods:
A total of 129 postmortem human brain samples were analyzed in brain regional specific manner exploring their associations with morphologic changes and cognitive decline.
Results:
We have observed robust changes reflecting synaptic dysfunction in all studied dementia groups. There were significant associations between the rate of cognitive decline and decreased levels of Rab3 in DLB in the inferior parietal lobe and SNAP25 in AD in the prefrontal cortex. Of particular note, synaptic proteins significantly discriminated between dementia cases and controls with over 90% sensitivity and specificity.
Discussion:
Our findings suggest that the proposition that synaptic markers can predict cognitive decline in AD, should be extended to Lewy body diseases.
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