ALTERATIONS IN METABOLIC PROPERTIES IN FIBROBLASTS IN ALZHEIMER-DISEASE

Alzheimer disease (AD) leads to alterations in several biochemical pro perties in cultured skin fibroblasts. Because abnormal glucose metabol ism has been reported in both in vivo and in vitro studies of the brai n, we examined glucose and glutamine oxidation and lactate production in cultured skin fibroblasts from nine patients with familial AD, 19 w ith sporadic AD, acid 20 age-matched controls. The production of CO2 f rom glucose and glutamine was significantly lower in both groups of Al zheimer fibroblasts compared to controls after 10 min or 1, 2, and 4 h of incubation. The reduction in CO2 production was most evident after 1 h of incubation with either (U-14C)-glucose or (U-14C)-glutamine. L actate concentration was comparable in all groups at any time of incub ation. These findings suggest that processes that require mitochondria l function as glucose or glutamine oxidation are altered in AD and pro vide evidence that complex metabolic differences are expressed in cult ured nonneuronal cells from Alzheimer patients.