The formation of prostaglandins in the postmortem cerebral cortex of Alzheimer-type dementia patients.

The formation of arachidonic acid metabolites [prostaglandin (PG)D2, PGE2, PGF2 alpha, 6oxo-PGF1 alpha and thromboxane (TX)B2] has been examined in the frontal, temporal, and parieto-occipital regions of the cortex in the postmortem brains from five patients with a pathologically verified Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD) and in eight, age-matched controls. The study disclosed that the amount of PGD2 and TXB2 found in the ATD brains was greater than in controls, and that the formation of PGD2 was significantly increased in the frontal cortex of the ATD brains. Other PG metabolites, however, showed no significant changes in the ATD group. Since it is known that PGD2 is synthesized mainly in neurons, our results seem to suggest that the preserved cortical neurons in the ATD brain have an accelerated PGD2 production.