ABERRANT EXPRESSION OF BCL-2 GENE FAMILY IN DOWNS-SYNDROME BRAINS

Down's syndrome (DS) patient brains are known to develop prematurely t he same degenerative changes as those seen in Alzheimer's disease (AD) . On the assumption that the apoptotic mechanism is involved in the ne uronal loss in DS, we have investigated the expression of the bcl-2 ge ne family in DS brains and found marked alterations. The most prominen t changes were in the temporal lobes where neuronal loss was greatest. Our findings suggest that a apoptotic process is involved in the neur onal loss in DS.