Elevated cortical zinc in Alzheimer disease

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether changes in brain biometals in Alzheimer disease (AD) and in normal brain tissue are tandemly associated with amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) burden and dementia severity. METHODS: The authors measured zinc, copper, iron, manganese, and aluminum and Aβ levels in postmortem neocortical tissue from patients with AD (n = 10), normal age-matched control subjects (n = 14), patients with schizophrenia (n = 26), and patients with schizophrenia with amyloid (n = 8). Severity of cognitive impairment was assessed with the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR). RESULTS: There was a significant, more than twofold, increase of tissue zinc in the AD-affected cortex compared with the o..