Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme in Cortical Tissue in Alzheimer's and Some Other Neurological Diseases

Abstract

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholinesterase were measured in seven cortical regions from the brains of 11 neurologically normal controls, 15 cases of dementia of the Alzheimer type, 6 cases of Parkinson dementia, and 12 cases with other neurological diseases. The groups did not differ significantly in age or postmortem delay. As expected, the cholinergic enzyme activities were significantly correlated with each other and were both markedly reduced in the Alzheimer and Parkinson dementia groups. Overall, ACE activity was not correlated with either of the cholinergic enzymes, and was not significantly affected by clinical category. The activity did, however, show significant regional variation and appeared somewhat higher in females than in males. The mean cortical ACE activity showed a statistically significant increase with age.