Elsevier

Experimental Neurology

Volume 142, Issue 2, December 1996, Pages 313-322
Experimental Neurology

Regular Article
TGFβ1 and TGFβ2 Concentrations Are Elevated in Parkinson's Disease in Ventricular Cerebrospinal Fluid

https://doi.org/10.1006/exnr.1996.0200Get rights and content

Abstract

Transforming growth factor (TGF)β plays a role in injury repair in sites surrounding brain injury. The present study tested the hypothesis that TGFβ1 and TGFβ2 levels in the postmortem CSF of patients with neurodegenerative disorders would be elevated compared to those in normal subjects. Free TGFβ1 and total TGFβ2 were measured by ELISA in postmortem ventricular cerebrospinal fluid (vCSF) of patients with Parkinson's disease (n = 30), Alzheimer's disease (n = 30), multiple sclerosis (n = 15), and schizophrenia (n = 12) and of normal controls (n = 16). In addition, albumin, IgG, and total protein in vCSF were measured. Both TGFβ1 and TGFβ2 were significantly different between groups (P < 0.002 andP < 0.001, respectively). Parkinson's disease vCSF showed significant increases in both TGFβ1 (P = 0.015) and TGFβ2 (P = 0.012) compared to normal controls. There was a trend for TGFβ2 to be elevated in Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis vCSFs, which failed to achieve significance. There were no differences between controls and schizophrenics in TGFβ1 or TGFβ2. Alzheimer's disease vCSF showed a significant decrease in protein compared to all other groups, which was not related to blood–brain barrier permeability, age, or autolysis differences. Evidence is presented suggesting that some TGFβ1 may leak into the vCSF from plasma. Autopsy vCSF levels of TGFβ isoforms were found to be distinctly different from those reported for human serum, especially for TGFβ2, which is undetectable in plasma. These results indicate that furtherin vivostudies of TGFβ2 in the CSF of Parkinson's disease patients are warranted to determine the relationship between clinical status, medication, and TGFβ2 concentrations.

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