AN IN-VITRO H-1 NUCLEAR-MAGNETIC-RESONANCE STUDY OF THE TEMPOROPARIETAL CORTEX OF ALZHEIMER BRAINS

The concentrations of selected metabolites in the posterior temporopar ietal cortex of 13 Alzheimer's diseased (AD) and four nondemented post mortem brains (of individuals between the ages of 63 and 95), were det ermined using high-resolution H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spe ctroscopy. The estimates for glutamate and inositol for AD brains did not show any statistically significant difference (P > 0.05) from thos e for the nondemented brains. The putative neuronal marker N-acetyl as partate (NAA), creatine, and GABA were decreased in AD brains compared with the nondemented brains. The estimates for creatine, glutamate, a nd GABA showed significant linear correlations with those of NAA. Crea tine, glutamate, GABA, and NAA appeared to be negatively correlated wi th the neurofibrillary tangles. Our results support a neuronal loss in the posterior temporoparietal cortices of AD brains.