Changes in plasma cholinesterase activities of the patients with Alzheimer's disease

Objective To investigate the activities of two cholinesterases,plasma acetylcholinesterase(AChE)and butyrylcholinesterase(BuChE)of the patients with Alzheimer's disease(AD)and the normal aged and to explore the significance of their activities in pathogenesis of AD and the clinical diagnosis value.Methods The activities of plasma AChE and BuChE from 29 AD patients and 33 age-matched normal people were detected by Ellman's colorimetric methods.Results The level of plasma AChE activity(1.39±0.57)nmol·min-1·ml-1 in AD patients was significantly lower than that in normal controls(2.16±0.86)nmol·min-1·ml-1(P0.001);while there was no significant difference in plasma BuChE activity between AD patients and normal controls(P0.05);there were not any differences in the levels of both ChE activities between male and female or among different age groups(P0.05).Conclusions Plasma AChE activity in AD patients are significantly lower than that in normal aged,this decrease has no relation to gender and age.Plasma ChE activity could serve as an index of auxiliary diagnosis.