Opioid peptides in the cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer patients

Endogenous opioid receptoractive peptides in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of human controls and in those patients diagnosed as having senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type (SDAT) are measured with a radioreceptorassay following HPLC separation. [3H]Etorphine is the ligand used to detect in the HPLC fractions the presence of those endogenous peptides that preferentially interact with several opioid receptors. The RRA uses a receptor-rich P2 fraction extracted from a canine limbic system. The total opioid peptide content found in the HPLC fractions 6-20 (to avoid salts in fractions 1-5) of SDAT CSF (383 +/- 187 pmol ME-equivalents per ml CSF) is significantly higher than the corresponding total from patients with no known neurological disorders (89.1 +/- 46.3 pmol ME-equivalents per ml).