Aging / Alzheimer's Disease
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12503/21727
Browse
Browsing Aging / Alzheimer's Disease by Author "Barber, Robert C."
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Epigenetic alterations in Brain tissue and Alzheimer's Disease(2015-03) Shewale, Shantanu J.; Barber, Robert C.; Planz, JohnBackground: Epigenetic factors such as methylation of DNA have shown to impact the phenotype of a cell and irregular methylation of DNA has been correlated with numerous diseases. DNA methylation has been shown to impact the expression of certain genes associated with AD. Methods: A novel method, methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP), is used to study genome wide methylation patterns via high throughput sequencing to assess DNA methylation patterns in brain tissue from individuals diagnosed with AD (N=12) and age matched controls (N=12). MeDIP isolation facilitates an unbiased methylation analysis of the entire human genome by enriching samples for methylated DNA fragments. The MethylMiner kit (Life Technologies) was utilized to precipitate methylated DNA, which was sequenced on the Illumina Hi-seq 2500. In addition, another aliquot will undergo MeDIP and bisulfite treatment. This will allow analysis of methylated cytosines at single base pair resolution across the entire genome. In addition, RNA and miRNA-seq was performed on the Illumina Hi-seq 2500. RNA-seq information obtained provides additional insight on epigenetic impacts on miRNA and RNA levels. Results: Sequence data reveal a genome wide methylation pattern profile, along with gene expression changes that differentiate case from control participants. Conclusions: These data provide insight and help explain a portion of the missing heritability that has yet to be characterized for AD.Item Relationship between Depressive Symptoms and Cognitive Decline(2015-03) Ford, Michael A.; Barber, Robert C.; Hall, JamesObjectives: Depression and cognitive decline have a complex relationship. The purpose of our study was to determine if depression, or specific symptoms of depression, influences the rate of cognitive decline. Methods: We conducted linear regression analysis to determine if baseline depression or depressive symptoms influenced the rate of age-related cognitive decline. Data analyzed were from 634 male and 934 female elderly white, non-Hispanic participants in the Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium. Participants included cognitively normal controls (733), subjects with mild cognitive impairment (243) and subjects with Alzheimer’s disease (592). Baseline depression was estimated using Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS30) scores. Baseline depressive symptoms included apathy and agitation, as measured in the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q). Cognitive decline was measured by a change in Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scores between visits 1 and 3. In these analyses we stratified based on gender and adjusted for age at first visit and education. Results: We found that baseline overall depression (GDS30) was not significantly related to cognitive decline. Specific depressive symptoms were significantly related to cognitive decline, but there were different effects in men and women. Apathy was correlated with increased cognitive decline in men only (p Conclusions: Depressive symptoms appear to increase the rate of cognitive decline and may be early signs for neurodegeneration. These symptoms may also be important targets for therapeutics designed to treat, or slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. However, the relationship is not simple, as indicated by the divergent results observed in males and females. Further research in this area is warranted; while there are currently no proven treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, depression and depressive symptoms are therapeutically modifiable.