Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, Vol 50, Issue 4 B201-B204, Copyright © 1995 by The Gerontological Society of America

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Basal and activated intracellular calcium ion concentrations in mononuclear cells of Alzheimer's disease and unipolar depression

A Adunsky, A Diver-Haber, D Becker and M Hershkowitz
Dementia Clinic, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel.

We present the results of a case control study on the concentration of intracellular calcium [Ca+2]i in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), major affective disorder unipolar type (DEP), and elderly controls. We used the fluorescent dye Quin-2 to measure intracellular calcium concentration in PBMC both in their basal resting state [Ca+2]b and after activation [Ca+2]a with phytohemagglutinin (PHA). The [Ca+2]b and [Ca+2]a values in PBMC of AD patients were significantly higher than those of the elderly controls and of the DEP patients. In the DEP patients the [Ca+2]a values in PBMC were significantly higher than those of the elderly controls, but the [Ca+2]b values were not. [Ca+2]i levels did not correlate with age, gender, or duration and severity of the diseases investigated. These findings indicate that higher values of [Ca+2]b and [Ca+2]a may differentiate most AD patients from elderly controls or DEP patients.