Search

A prominent feature in dementia is intellectual deterioration. Review of the clinical literature indicates a lack of suitably quantitated studies of specific intellectual defects in dementia. The present study investigated the performance of patients with multi-infarct dementia (MID), dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD), and vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI) with dementia using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Forty-two patients ranging in age from 45 to 85 years (x 66) were included. Significant differences in cognitive and intellectual performance were found between patients with dementia due to VBI and MID versus neuronal atrophy of the Alzheimer's type. The group with AD performed significantly and consistently lower on all measures. There were no significant differences between the two cerebrovascular disease groups, even though the MID group performed consistently more poorly than the VBI group. A discriminant function analysis classified 74% of the patients correctly based on the individual WAIS scores. The diagnosis was more easily made when tasks measuring visual motor coordination and abstract reasoning were included in the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured in baboons by intracarotid injection of 133Xe and a gamma camera after acute cerebral infarction was induced by occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA). A steady state of rCBF was measured four hour after MCA occlusion and was followed by bilateral ligation of the external cartoid arteries (ECA). Subsequent rCBF measurements were obtained at 30, 60, and 120 minutes. After bilateral ECA ligation, flow in ischaemic and non-ischaemic areas was greatly enhanced and flow in the hyperaemic areas significantly reduced, presumably since they had provided collateral circulation to the ischaemic zone with a favourable redistribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of intracarotid injection of serotonin (5-HT) on internal carotid artery flow and oxygen availability (O(2)a) of the cerebral cortex was studied in 10 baboons. Vasoconstriction occurred in the vascular bed of the territory supplied by the injected artery. After one middle cerebral artery was occluded the vasoconstrictor effect of 5-HT was more pronounced, particularly in the non-ischaemic hemisphere. The capacity of the cerebral vessels to provide collateral blood flow was reduced in both ischaemic and non-ischaemic areas of brain. As a result of focal cerebral ischaemia, 5-HT may accumulate in the brain and contribute to the progression of infarction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]