Altered Expression of Human Mitochondrial Branched Chain Aminotransferase in Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Vascular Dementia.

Altered Expression of Human Mitochondrial Branched Chain Aminotransferase in Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Vascular Dementia. Neurochem Res. 2016 Mar 15; Authors: Ashby EL, Kierzkowska M, Hull J, Kehoe PG, Hutson SM, Conway ME Abstract Cytosolic and mitochondrial human branched chain aminotransferase (hBCATc and hBCATm, respectively) play an integral role in brain glutamate metabolism. Regional increased levels of hBCATc in the CA1 and CA4 region of Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain together with increased levels of hBCATm in frontal and temporal cortex of AD brains, suggest a role for these proteins in glutamate excitotoxicity. Glutamate toxicity is a key pathogenic feature of several neurological disorders including epilepsy associated dementia, AD, vascular dementia (VaD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). To further understand if these increases are specific to AD, the expression profiles of hBCATc and hBCATm were examined in other forms of dementia including DLB and VaD. Similar to AD, levels of hBCATm were significantly increased in the frontal and temporal cortex of VaD cases and in frontal cortex of DLB cases compared to controls, however there were no observed differences in hBCATc between groups in these areas. Moreover, multiple forms of hBCATm were observed that were particular to the disease state relative to matched controls. Real-time PCR revealed similar expression of hBCATm mRNA in frontal and temporal cortex for all ...
Source: Neurochemical Research - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Neurochem Res Source Type: research