Whole blood samples from Alzheimer patients and control donors demonstrate fluorimetric differences.

Beta-amyloid peptide plays a crucial role in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. As part of our ongoing fluorimetric studies, in the present report we demonstrate differences in resting intracellular free calcium levels of cells in the blood derived from sporadic Alzheimer patients and from age-matched control individuals. Calcium levels were measured in Fura-2AM-loaded human blood samples by dual-wavelength spectrofluorimetry. The resting calcium concentrations of blood samples from Alzheimer patients were lower compared to that of the control samples. Exposure of control blood samples to beta-amyloid caused an increase in the calcium level. Specimens from Alzheimer donors, however, appeared to be resistant to the peptide. This simple finding may serve as a springboard to monitoring Alzheimer pathology in the peripheral systems of the body.