This volume presents the proceedings of the symposium held in Toulouse on April 24, 1989, on the topic "Biological Markers of Alzheimer's Disease. " This sym­ posium was the fourth of a continuing and successful series of Colloques Medecine et Recherche organized by the Fondation IPSEN pour la Recherche Therapeutique, addressing various aspects of contemporary research in the field of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The series started in September 1987 with "Im­ munology and Alzheimer's Disease," followed 6 months later in Paris by "Gene­ tics and Alzheimer's Disease" and in September 1988 in Montpellier by "Neuronal Grafting and Alzheimer's Disease. " The present symposium was organized for the purpose of gathering the most current ideas concerning biological markers of AD. The papers presented at this symposium may be roughly subdivided into three groups. The first deals with the markers of AD at the level of the brain itself. These markers are studied either through the cerebrospinal fluid or through techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) - approaches which respectively aim at demonstrating the cerebral changes indicated by the debris resulting from the disease, or studying the possible neurochemical abnormalities that occur in the earlier stages of AD.

Inhalt

Cerebrospinal Fluid Neurochemical Markers in Alzheimer's Disease.- Potential Diagnostic Markers for Alzheimer's Disease.- Cerebrospinal Fluid-Based Laboratory Test for Alzheimer's Disease.- Probes for the Molecular Components of Plaques and Tangles Point to a Broadening View of Alzheimer Pathology.- Tau 64 and Tau 69: Two Early Biochemical Markers of Neurofibrillary Degeneration.- A cDNA Encodes Epitopes Shared Between Microtubule-Associated Protein MAP2 and Alzheimer Neurofibrillary Tangles: In Situ Hybridization and Immunocytochemistry.- Epitopes Characteristic of Paired Helical Filaments Demonstrated in Microglial Cells and Macrophages of the Meninges: A Possible Laboratory Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease from Cerebrospinal Fluid?.- Relationship Between Tau, Paired Helical Filaments, Amyloid and the Intellectual Deterioration in the Neocortex in Normal Aging and in Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type.- Molecular Insights into Alzheimer's Disease.- Altered Protein Kinase and Amyloid ß-Protein Precursor in Alzheimer's Disease: Which Comes First?.- The Amyloid Gene of Alzheimer's Disease and Neuronal Dysfunction.- Cloning of Different Amyloid Peptide Precursors from Brains of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease.- Genetic Studies of the Alzheimer's Disease-Associated Amyloid ß-Protein Precursor Gene and Familial Alzheimer's Disease.- Alzheimer's Disease and Chromosome 21.- Calcium and the Cytoskeleton in Alzheimer's Disease.- Use of Cultured Skin Fibroblasts in Studies of Alzheimer's Disease.- Lactate Production and Glycolytic Enzymes in Skin Cultured Cells from Alzheimer's Disease Patients.