Twenty first-order relatives of patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD; mean age 43.7 ± 1.3 years), 20 patients with early-onset AD (mean age 65.7 ± 0.9 years) and age-matched normal controls for the relatives and the patients underwent quantitative EEG (qEEG) examinations. In AD patients, delta and theta relative power values were increased and alpha relative power was decreased compared with normal controls. The AD patients’ relatives had normal resting EEG parameters. Under hyperventilation in the AD relatives, synchronous high-voltage delta and theta activity and sharp waves were revealed, theta and delta relative powers were increased and alpha relative power was decreased compared with the resting EEG in the same persons. Moreover, under hyperventilation, the theta and delta relative powers in the EEG of the relatives were higher, and the alpha relative power was lower compared with the EEG of normal controls under the same conditions. It is suggested that the excitotoxic processes and oxidative stress underlie the EEG alterations in the AD patients’ relatives and that these alterations may be related to the further AD development.
Visual-evoked potentials (VEP) to a flash were studied in the first-order relatives of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (mean age 38.2 ± 2.6 years) in comparison with the patients (mean age 61.9 ± 1.4 years) and age-matched normal controls. It was found that in the relatives of AD patients the latencies of N2, P3, N3 components were delayed compared with the age-matched normal controls. The delay in the latencies of the patients and their relatives concerned the same components but was smaller in the relatives of AD patients. The amplitude of the P2, N2 components was increased in the latter. The neurophysiological alteration in AD patients’ relatives may be considered as signs of a latent neurodegeneration in limbico-reticulo-cortical pathways, which may be connected to the pathological hyperactivity of limbico-reticulo-cortical structures.
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