Development of a Specific Diagnostic Test for Measurement of β-Amyloid (1-42) [βA4(l-42)] in CSF

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is considered as the most important of all neurodegenerative diseases, due to its frequent occurrence and devastating consequences. AD appears to be a very heterogeneous group of disorders sharing clinical characteristics and pathological hallmarks. Neuropathologically, the brains of AD patients are characterized by the presence of intracellular accumulations of neurofibrillary tangles (primarily composed of a hyperphosphorylated form of the microtubule associated protein tau) in the hippocampus and temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex, the extracellular deposition of amyloid fibrils in the senile plaques, and the degeneration of neurons and their synapses. Neither plaques or tangles are restricted to AD (Selkoe, 1991).