Genotyping APOE in patients with vascular dementia

The polymorphysm of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene was investigated in pa tients with vascular dementia (VaD), sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) and non-demented controls. Genotypes was determined by PCR using allele-specifi c oligonucleotide probes and amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS ). Distribution of APOE genotypes and frequences of all three alleles for e xamined groups were compared with the values of our controls. The frequency of epsilon 4 alleIe of the APOE in patients with VaD (0.21) was not signif icantly higher than in the control group (0.10). There is significant rise of epsilon 4 allele (0.44) among the patients with AD. Association of APOE genotype, and lipids in serum was determined. Total cholesterol value and L DL-cholesterol are highest in APOE-epsilon 4 homozygotes, lower in APOE-eps ilon 4 heterozygotes and the lowest in APOE-epsilon 4 negatives in both gro up of demented patients and in healthy controls, but not statistically sign ificant.