CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID NITRATE LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITH ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

It has been suggested that nitric oxide could be implicated in the pat hogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recently Kuiper ct al. reported decreased CSF nitrate levels (oxidation product that provides an indi rect estimation of nitric oxide) in AD patients, assessed with a color imetric method. However other group, using a microplate version of the Griess reaction, did not confirm these findings. We studied the CSF a nd plasma levels of nitrate with a kinetic cadmium-reduction method in 32 AD patients and 36 matched controls. The CSF and plasma nitrate le vels did not differ significantly between the two study groups. CSF an d plasma nitrate levels did not correlate with age at onset and durati on in the patient group. These data suggest that CSF and plasma levels of nitrate are apparently unrelated with the risk for AD.