The cerebrocortical areas in normal brain aging and in Alzheimer's disease: Noticeable differences in the lipid peroxidation level and in antioxidantdefense

The markers of oxidative stress were measured in four cerebrocortical regio ns of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and age-matched control brains. In controls the levels of diene conjugates (DC) and lipid peroxides (LOOH) were signifi cantly higher in the sensory postcentral and occipital primary cortex than in the temporal inferior or frontal inferior cortex. The antioxidant capaci ty (AOC) was highest in the temporal, and GSH in the frontal inferior corte x. The highest activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) wa s found in the occipital primary cortex. Compared with controls, significan tly higher level of DC and LOOH and attenuated AOC were evident in AD tempo ral inferior cortex. In AD frontal inferior cortex moderate increase in LOO H was associated with positive correlation between SOD activity and counts of senile plaques. Our data suggest that in AD cerebral cortex, the oxidati ve stress is expressed in the reducing sequence: temporal inferior cortex > frontal inferior cortex > sensory postcentral cortex occipital primary cor tex, corresponding to the histopathological spreading of AD from the associ ative to primary cortical areas.