Citation

Sharp SI, Ballard CG, Chen CP, Francis PT. Am. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry 2007; 15(5): 435-437.

Affiliation

King's College London, Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1097/01.JGP.0000237065.78966.1b

PMID

17463193

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Aggressive behavior in dementia is a major clinical management problem. METHOD: Postmortem brain tissue was obtained from 24 patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and 25 comparison cases. [3H] Prazosin binding to alpha1-AdR was determined. RESULTS: Aggressive behavior was significantly correlated with alpha1-adrenoceptor number in patients with AD (R(s)=0.454, N=24). Furthermore, patients receiving ongoing neuroleptics had significantly higher Bmax for [3H] prazosin (21 +/- 2, N=9) than those who were not (16 +/- 1, N=15). CONCLUSIONS: Upregulation of alpha1-AdR is associated with aggressive behavior and chronic treatment with neuroleptic medication.

Language: en