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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a complex neurodegenerative disorder, for which several disease-associated loci have been located on different chromosomes. We have used a population-based linkage disequilibrium mapping approach in order to find potential AD-associated loci on chromosome 13. To avoid population stratification, late onset AD patients and age-matched controls were carefully chosen from the same geographical area in Eastern Finland, where the population is mainly descended from a small group of original founders. During the initial screening with chromosome 13-specific microsatellite markers, tetranucleotide marker D13S787 was found to be in linkage disequilibrium in the 13q12 region. Screening this region with additional microsatellite markers revealed that marker D13S292 was also significantly associated with AD. Stratification of the AD patients and controls into groups according to apolipoprotein E, sex, and familial/sporadic status indicated that the 13q12 locus was associated with female familial AD patients regardless of ApoE genotype. Based on the physical data from the region 13q12, markers D13S292 and D13S787 were estimated to reside in a 810kb long YAC clone 754h7 together with two infant brain-derived ESTs and the H,K-ATPase alpha-subunit protein gene (ATP1AL1). The localisation of these sequences at the linkage disequilibrium region suggests that they may be candidate genes involved in a sex-specific effect during development of AD.

Background: Cerebral ischemia induces a massive release of norepinephrine associated with neuronal death in the brain. It has been demonstrated that alpha2-adrenoceptor agonists decrease the release and turnover of noradrenaline, and this might prove advantageous in counteracting the neurodegeneration in ischemic brain. Therefore, in the present study, the authors tested whether dexmedetomidine, a selective alpha2-receptor agonist, has neuroprotective effects in a gerbil transient global ischemia model., Methods: Ischemia was induced by bilateral carotid occlusion for 5 min in diethylether-anesthetized normothermic gerbils. Dexmedetomidine was administered subcutaneously in four different treatment paradigms (6-8 animals/group): 3 or 30 microg/kg 30 min before and thereafter at 3, 12, 24, and 48 h after the occlusion, or 3 or 30 microg/kg at 3, 12, 24, and 48 h after the occlusion. Control animals were subjected to forebrain ischemia but received only saline injections. One week after occlusion, animals were transcardially perfused for histochemistry. Neuronal death in the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus and in the hilus of the dentate gyrus was evaluated in silver-stained 60-microm coronal sections., Results: Compared with saline-treated ischemic animals, dexmedetomidine at a dose of 3 microg/kg given before and continued after the induction of ischemia reduced the number of damaged neurons in the CA3 area (2 +/- 3 vs. 17 +/- 20 degenerated neurons/mm2; P < 0.05). Also in the dentate hilus, the number of damaged neurons was reduced by dexmedetomidine (3 microg/kg) given before and continued after ischemia (5 +/- 7 vs. 56 +/- 42 degenerated neurons/mm2; P < 0.01)., Conclusions: The present data demonstrate that dexmedetomidine effectively prevents delayed neuronal death in CA3 area and in the dentate hilus in gerbil hippocampus when the management is started before the onset of ischemia and continued for 48 h after reperfusion. Inhibition of ischemia-induced norepinephrine release may be associated with neuroprotection by dexmedetomidine.