| Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related, degenerative central nervous system (CNS) disorder that leads to dementia. It is characterized pathologically by cortical atrophy, neuronal loss, proliferation of glial cells adjacent to neurons, excessive formation of neurofibrillary tangles, and excessive deposition of amyloid ;Immunohistochemical analyses reveal colocalization of both Bcl-2 and Bax staining with AD pathology, specifically in reactive astrocytes and in A;The effects of disease specific insults on apoptotic mechanisms in AD can be seen in vitro. Levels of Bcl-2 were increased in astrocyte cultures, as seen in vivo, when challenged with A;Levels of apoptosis-related proteins B-Cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl-2 associated X-protein (Bax) were compared in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and non-demented (ND) age matched control brain samples. Bcl-2, which when overexpressed inhibits apoptosis, is increased in expression by more than three-fold in AD compared to ND samples, while Bax is significantly decreased by more than 10 fold in expression in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG), as detected by immunoblots. |
