Abstract
This chapter discusses a study to examine homovanillic acid (HVA) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with senile dementia of Alzheimer type. The study investigated the basal concentrations of HVA and 5-HIAA in cerebrospinal CSF in 28 patients with senile dementia of Alzheimer type and 14 voluntary controls of same age and sex with no neurological disease. All the patients were receiving some kind of drug treatment, which for ethical reasons could not be terminated. Many of the dementia patients were receiving anti-psychotic drugs, which are known to cause an elevation in brain HVA levels. Nonetheless the concentration of HVA was significantly reduced in the dementia patients compared to the concentrations of the controls. The values of HVA were also significantly reduced in the more severely demented patients compared to the less severely demented patients. No significant differences were found in 5-HIAA values in the dementia patients compared to the controls or in the severely demented patients compared to the mildly demented patients.
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