Because excitotoxicity may be involved in neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease, we investigated possible modifications of platelet glutamate uptake in AD patients. High-affinity glutamate uptake was studied in platelets from 35 Alzheimer's disease patients, 10 multi-infarct dementia patients, and 35 age-matched normal controls; it was decreased by 40% in platelets from Alzheimer's disease patients compared with controls and with multi-infarct dementia patients. Platelet glutamate uptake could be used as peripheral marker of glutamatergic involvement and as adjunctive diagnostic tool in Alzheimer's disease patients.
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Ferrarese et al. (2000) studied this question.
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