Mapping biochemistry to metabolism: FDG-PET and amyloid burden in Alzheimer's disease

WE evaluated the relationship between amyloid-beta protein (A beta) concent ration and the metabolic abnormality in an Alzheimer's disease (AD) patient as measured by [F-18]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG- PET). Across most regions there were significant inverse correlations among FDG-PET intensity values and both insoluble. The temporal lobe samples sho wed no significant correlation between FDG-PET values and A beta deposition . Findings support A beta as contributing to the hypometabolism in regions of the AD brain that are still relatively viable metabolically; those regio ns with chronic pathologic damage, such as temporal cortex, may have other factors that contribute to metabolic deficits. (C) 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.