DISTRIBUTION OF BETA-AMYLOID PROTEIN IN THE BRAIN FOLLOWING SEVERE HEAD-INJURY

Deposits of beta-amyloid protein (beta AP) can be found in the brains of 30% of fatally head-injured patients; they have been found in child ren and after survival times of only 4 h. The principal aims of this s tudy were to map the distribution of beta AP in 14 patients aged 65 ye ars or less in whom it was known that the protein had been deposited, and to correlate its distribution with the pathologies of traumatic br ain injury. The results show that beta AP is widely distributed, and t hat there is no correlation between its presence and cerebral contusio ns, intracranial haematoma, axonal injury, ischaemic brain damage, bra in swelling or the pathology of raised intracranial pressure, These fi ndings suggest that the deposition of beta AP is a consequence of the acute phase response of nerve cells to stress in susceptible individua ls. Further studies will be required to establish the possible relatio nship between the deposition of beta AP following head injury and the molecular neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease.