Thyrotropin-releasing hormone, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone and substance P immuno-reactivity in post-mortem brain from cases of Alzheimer-type dementia and Down's syndrome.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH), substance P immuno-reactivity and choline acetyltransferase activity (CAT) were measured in post-mortem brains from 6 cases of Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD), 3 cases of Down's syndrome and 6 controls and in spinal cords from two cases of ATD and two controls. The activity of CAT was lower in posterior and anterior grey matter of lumbar spinal cord from two cases of ATD than from two controls. No significant differences were observed in the levels of the 3 peptides in the ATD, Down's and control brains and spinal cords, even in areas of ATD and Down's brain in which there were significant reductions in the activity of CAT or concentration of noradrenaline. These results show that TRH, LH-RH and substance P are not affected in ATD and Down's syndrome either as a consequence of a direct effect on the peptidergic neurone or of a secondary effect related to the loss of CAT activity and noradrenaline.

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