INDUCTION OF HEME OXYGENASE-1 MESSENGER-RNA AND PROTEIN IN NEOCORTEX AND CEREBRAL VESSELS IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

Previous studies demonstrated the specific association of heme oxygena se (HO)-1 protein to the neurofibrillary pathology of Alzheimer's dise ase (AD). In this study, we used reverse transcription-polymerase chai n reaction methods to show the increased expression of HO-1 but not HO -2 mRNA transcripts in cerebral cortex and cerebral vessels from subje cts with AD compared with age-matched non-AD controls. Neither the HO- 1 nor the HO-2 mRNA level was altered in the cerebellum, a brain regio n usually spared from the pathological alterations of AD. There was no clear evidence that the expression of HO-1 in these tissues was relat ed to postmortem interval, cause of death, or the age of the subjects studied. Using immunoblotting methods, we further showed that HO-1 pro tein content was increased in neocortical and vascular samples from AD subjects compared with controls. Our findings suggest the specific in duction of HO-1 mRNA and protein in the cerebral cortex and cerebral v essels but not HO-2 mRNA or protein in association with the pathologic al lesions of the disease.