Hippocampal glucose metabolism is associated with cerebrospinal fluid estrogen levels in postmenopausal women with Alzheimer's disease

• Published in: Psychiatry research 2003-10, Vol.124 (2), p.125-127
• Main Authors: Schönknecht, Peter, Henze, Marcus, Hunt, Aoife, Klinga, Klaus, Haberkorn, Uwe, Schröder, Johannes
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 17β-estradiol; Aged; Alzheimer Disease - cerebrospinal fluid; Alzheimer Disease - diagnostic imaging; Alzheimer's disease; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Glucose - metabolism; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Dominance, Cerebral - physiology; Estradiol - cerebrospinal fluid; Female; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Hippocampus; Hippocampus - diagnostic imaging; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neurology; positron emission tomography; Postmenopause - cerebrospinal fluid; Radionuclide Imaging; Reference Values
• ISSN: 0925-4927; 0165-1781; 1872-7506
• DOI: 10.1016/S0925-4927(03)00086-6

Animal studies indicate that estrogens, such as 17β-estradiol (E 2), may enhance hippocampal metabolism and function. In postmenopausal Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) E 2 levels were significantly lower than in non-demented controls. This finding was inversely correlated with CSF β-amyloid levels. To address the potential impact of this finding, E 2 levels in CSF were correlated with regional cerebral [ 18F]2-fluoro-2-deoxy- d-glucose (FDG) uptake as measured using positron emission tomography (PET) in six postmenopausal AD patients. CSF E 2 levels were determined using an electro-chemiluminescence-immunoassay on the Roche Elecsys 2010 immunoassay analyzer. Basic image processing was done by MEDx, using SPM routines for spatial normalization and statistics. CSF E 2 levels were significantly correlated with cerebral glucose metabolism in the left hippocampus. This is the first clinical study indicating an association between CSF E 2 concentration and hippocampal glucose metabolism in postmenopausal women with AD.