Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:47:47.512Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Serum Immunoglobulins and Cognitive Status in the Elderly: 1. A Population Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Donna Cohen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, U.S.A.
Carl Eisdorfer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, U.S.A.

Summary

Fifty-seven cognitively impaired elderly had significantly elevated serum IgG (P $0.005) and IgA (P $0.01) levels and similar IgM levels, compared to a population of 65 elderly matched for age and sex, who did not manifest cognitive impairment. These findings are compatible with a current hypothesis that immunological factors may be important in the cognitive disorders observed with increasing frequency among the aged.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baumgarten, A., Kruchok, A. H. & Wierich, F. (1970) High frequency of IgG Anti-A and -B antibody in old age. Vox Sanguinis, 28, 277–89.Google Scholar
Behan, P. O. & Feldman, R. G. (1970) Serum proteins, amyloid and Alzheimer's disease. Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 18, 792–7.Google Scholar
Blessed, G., Tomlinson, B. E. & Roth, M. (1968) The association between quantitative measures of dementia and of senile change in the cerebral gray matter of elderly subjects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 797811.Google Scholar
Buckley, C. E., Buckley, E. G. & Dorsey, F. C. (1974) Longitudinal changes in serum immunoglobulin levels in older humans. Federal Proceedings, 33, 2036–9.Google Scholar
Buckley, C. E. & Dorsey, F. C. (1971) Serum immunoglobulin levels throughout the life-span of healthy man. Annals of Internal Medicine, 75, 673–83.Google Scholar
Buckley, C. E. & Roseman, J. M. (1976) Immunity and survival. Journal of American Geriatrics Society, xxiv, 241–8.Google Scholar
Cohen, D. & Eisdorfer, C. (1977) Behavioural-immunologic relationships in older men and women. Experimental Ageing Research, 3, 225–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisdorfer, C. & Cohen, D. (1980) British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 40–5.Google Scholar
Eisdorfer, C., Cohen, D. & Buckley, C. E. (In press) Behavioural-serum immunoglobulin relationships in the cognitively impaired elderly, in Alzheimer's Disease, Senile Dementia and Related Disorders. (Eds. R. Katzman and R. D. Terry). New York: Raven.Google Scholar
Felsenfeld, O. & Wolf, R. F. (1972) Relationship of age and serum immunoglobulins to autoantibodies against brain constituents in primate: 1. A study in apparently healthy man, Macaca mulata and Erythrocebos patos. Journal of Medical Primatology, 1, 287–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finger, H., Emmerling, P. & Hoff, H. (1973) Serumimmunoglobulin-spiegel in senium. Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift, 98, 2455–6.Google Scholar
Glenner, G. G., Terry, W., Harada, M., Isersky, C. & Page, D. (1971) Amyloid fibril proteins: proof of homology with immunoglobulin light chain by sequence analysis. Science, 172, 1150–1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grundbacher, F. J. & Shreffler, D. C. (1970) Changes in human serum immunoglobulin levels with age and sex. Zeitschrift fur Immunitatsforschung, Experimentelle und Klinische Immunologue, 141, 20–6.Google Scholar
Haferkamp, O. D., Schlettwein-Gsell, D., Schwick, H. G. & Storiko, K. (1966) Serum protein in an ageing population with particular reference to evaluation of immunoglobulins and antibodies. Gerontology, 12, 2038.Google Scholar
Ingram, C. R., Phegan, K. J. & Blumenthal, H. T. (1974) Significance of an ageing-linked neuron binding gammaglobulin fraction of human sera. Journal of Gerontology, 29, 20–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishii, T. (1958) Histochemistry of the senile changes of the brain of senile dementia. Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica, 60, 768–81.Google Scholar
Ishii, T. & Haga, S. (1976) Immuno-electron microscopic localization of immunoglobulins in amyloid fibrils of senile plaques. Acta neuropathologica, 36, 243–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ishii, T., Haga, S. & Shimizu, F. (1975) Identification of components of immunoglobulins in senile plaques by means of fluorescent antibody technique. Acta neuropathologica, 32, 157–62.Google Scholar
Kalff, M. W. (1970) A population study on serum immunoglobulin levels. Clinica Chemica Acta, 28, 277–89.Google Scholar
Kalter, S. & Kelly, S. (1975) Alzheimer's disease. Evaluation of immunologic indices. New York State Journal of Medicine, 75, 1222–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Kidd, M. (1964) Alzheimer's disease. An electron-microscopic study. Brain, 87, 307–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krigman, M. E., Feldman, R. G. & Bensch, K. (1965) Alzheimer's presenile dementia. A histochemical and electron microscopic study. Lab Investigations, 14, 381–96.Google ScholarPubMed
Maddison, S. E. & Reimer, C. G. (1976) Normative values of serum immunoglobulins by single radial immunodiffusion: a review. Clinica Chemica, 22, 594601.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Makinodan, T. (1977) Immunity and ageing, in Handbook of the Biology of Ageing. (Eds. L. Hayflick and C. Finch). New York: Van Nostrand.Google Scholar
Mayer, P. P., Chughtai, M. A. & Cape, R. D. T. (1976) An immunological approach to dementia in the elderly. Age and Ageing, 5, 164–70.Google Scholar
Nandy, K. (1977) Immune reactions in the ageing brain and senile dementia, in the Ageing Brain and Senile Dementia. (Eds. K. Nandy and I. Sherwin). New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peck, A. (Proceedings, in press) Excess mortality and proximate causes of death. Paper presented at the Workshop Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, Senile Dementia, and Related Disorders, Bethesda, Maryland, June 1977.Google Scholar
Quinn, R. P., Price, G. B., Ellis, J. M. & Makinodan, T. (1973) Catabolic half-lives of immunoglobulin and albumin as a function of age in mice. Journal of Gerontology, 28, 257–65.Google Scholar
Radl, J., Sepers, J. M., Skvaril, F., Morell, A. & Hijmans, W. (1975) Immunoglobulin patterns in humans over 95 years of age. Clinical Experimental Immunology, 22, 8490.Google Scholar
Roth, M., Tomlinson, B. E. & Blessed, G. (1966) Correlation between scores for dementia and counts of senile plaques in cerebral gray matter of elderly subjects. Nature, 209, 109–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rowe, D. S., MacGregor, I. A., Smith, S. J., Hall, P. & Williams, K. (1968) Plasma immunoglobulin concentrations in a West African (Gambian) community and in a group of healthy British adults. Clinical Experimental Immunology, 3, 6379.Google Scholar
Skaichova, O., Jezkova, Z. & Slavikova, V. (1972) Immunological aspects of psychiatric gerontology. Review of Czechoslovak Medicine, 8, 264–75.Google Scholar
Shader, R. J., Harmatz, J. S. & Salzman, C. (1975) A new scale for clinical assessment in geriatric patients: Sandoz clinical assessment—geriatric (SCAG). Journal of American Geriatrics Society. Google Scholar
Suzuki, K. & Terry, R. D. (1967) Fine localization of acid phosphatase in senile plaques in Alzheimer's presenile dementia. Acta neuropathologica, 8, 276–84.Google Scholar
Terry, R. D., Gonatas, N. K. & Weiss, M. (1964) Ultrastructural studies in Alzheimer's presenile dementia. American Journal of Pathology, 44, 269–97.Google Scholar
Terry, R. D. & Wisniewski, H. (1973) Ultrastructure of senile dementia and experimental analogs, in Ageing in the Brain. (Ed. Gaitz, C.). New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Terry, R. D. & Wisniewski, H. (1977) Structural aspects of ageing in the brain, in Cognitive and Emotional Disturbances in the Elderly. (Eds. C. Eisdorfer and R. O. Friedel). Chicago: Year Book Medical.Google Scholar
Tkach, J. R. & Hokama, Y. (1970) Autoimmunity in chronic brain syndrome: a preliminary report. Archives of General Psychiatry, 23, 61–4.Google Scholar
Tomonga, M. (1976) On the ultrastructure and pathogenesis of the senile plaques observed in the brain of the aged. Journal of Clinical Electro Microbiology, 9, 95105.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1958) The Measurement of Adult Intelligence. Baltimore: Wilkins and Wilkins.Google Scholar
Whittingham, S., Lennon, V., Mackay, L. R., Vernon Davies, G. & Davies, B. (1970) Absence of brain antibodies in senile dementia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 116, 447–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkie, F. & Eisdorfer, C. (1971) Intelligence and blood pressure in the aged. Science, 172, 959–62.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.