Genetic Expression of Amyloid and Glial-specific Protein in the Alzheimer Brain

Molecular biology in psychiatric research: Alzheimer’s disease as a paradigm.

“…Irrespective of the low yields and possible degradation of RNA, we previously showed that a significant fraction of extracted postmortem Ad brain mRNA remains functional and synthesizes numerous proteins (Sajdel-Sulkowska, Coughlin, Staton, & Marotta, 1983; Sajdel-Sulkowska & Marotta, 1985). In our experience, the degree of stimulation by Ad mRNA in an in vitro protein synthesizing system tends to be lower than comparative controls; however, even the least efficient preparations stimulate the synthesis of the most abundant brain proteins, with glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and actin predominating (Sajdel-Sulkowska, Coughlin, Staton, & Marotta, 1983; Sajdel-Sulkowska, Salim et al, 1988). This result is consistent with earlier observations concerning the increase in glial RNA in the Ad cortex, and with other reports that demonstrate prominent astrocytic activity in the Ad brain (Duffy, Rappaport, & Graf, 1980; Schechter, Yen, & Terry, 1981).…”

“…The A4 polypeptide is a 42 or 43 amino acid fragment of the precursor and this fragment is deposited extracellularly to form the core of senile plaques (Kang et al, 1987). Although the precursor had been cloned from non-Ad sources ( see Sajdel-Sulkowska, Salim et al, 1988, for a review ), we undertook the task of cloning the cDNA directly from Ad mRNA to determine whether or not a mutation existed.…”