No increase in cerebrospinal fluid tau protein levels in patients with vascular dementia

Hiroyuki Arai, Takuma Satoh-Nakagawa, Makoto Higuchi, Yu Ichi Morikawa, Masakazu Miura, Hisako Kawakami, Hisatomo Seki, Sadao Takase, Hidetada Sasaki

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

49 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Tau protein levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF-tau) were determined in 29 patients with old cerebrovascular disease (CVD, 21 demented and eight non- demented), 69 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 17 age-matched normal controls. The CSF-tau level in the vascular dementia (VD) group (24.0 ± 17.0 pg/ml) was significantly lower (P < 0.0001) than that in the AD group (90.0 ± 45.3 pg/ml), but not significantly different from that in the non- demented patients with CVD (18.1 ± 10.2 pg/ml) or controls (20.3 ± 13.0 pg/ml). Among the VD patients, 1/21 exceeded a cut-off value (mean ± 2 SD of controls). Whereas 8/69 of the AD patients had CSF-tau levels below this value. These findings suggest that VD constitutes a group of dementias that can be separated from AD by normal CSF-tau levels. CSF-tau determinations in combination with other clinical findings may provide another diagnostic aid in the differential diagnosis between VD and AD.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)174-176
Number of pages3
JournalNeuroscience Letters
Volume256
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13-11-1998
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Neuroscience

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