Skip Navigation


Mutagenesis Advance Access originally published online on August 20, 2007
Mutagenesis 2007 22(6):371-379; doi:10.1093/mutage/gem029
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
22/6/371    most recent
gem029v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (7)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Thomas, P.
Right arrow Articles by Fenech, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Thomas, P.
Right arrow Articles by Fenech, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the UK Environmental Mutagen Society.

Buccal micronucleus cytome biomarkers may be associated with Alzheimer's disease

Philip Thomas1,2,*, Jane Hecker3, Jeffrey Faunt4 and Michael Fenech1

1CSIRO Division of Human Nutrition, 13 Kintore Avenue, PO Box 10041 Adelaide BC, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia 2Discipline of Physiology, School of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia 3Department of Internal Medicine, Royal Adelaide Hospital, North Terrace, Adelaide, 5000 4Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, Australia

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive degenerative disorder of the brain and is the commonest form of dementia. A buccal cytome assay was used to measure ratios of buccal cell populations and micronuclei in clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's patients compared to age and gender-matched controls. Frequencies of basal cells (P < 0.0001), condensed chromatin cells (P < 0.0001) and karyorrhectic cells (P < 0.0001) were found to be significantly lower in Alzheimer's patients. These changes may reflect alterations in the cellular kinetics or structural profile of the buccal mucosa, and may be useful as potential biomarkers in identifying individuals with a high risk of developing AD. The odds ratio of being diagnosed with AD for those individuals with a basal cell plus karyorrhectic cell frequency <41 per 1000 cells is 140, with a specificity of 97% and sensitivity of 82%. These promising results need to be replicated in larger studies and in cohorts of other neurodegenerative disorders to determine specificity of changes to Alzheimer's patients.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +08 83038897; Fax: +08 83038899; Email: philip.thomas{at}csiro.au

Received on May 16, 2007; revised on June 26, 2007; accepted on July 6, 2007.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 MutagenesisHome page
S. Bonassi, B. Biasotti, M. Kirsch-Volders, S. Knasmueller, E. Zeiger, S. Burgaz, C. Bolognesi, N. Holland, P. Thomas, M. Fenech, et al.
State of the art survey of the buccal micronucleus assay--a first stage in the HUMNXL project initiative
Mutagenesis, July 1, 2009; 24(4): 295 - 302.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.