Background: Blood-based tests for a rapid and valid diagnosis as well as outcome prognosis of acute stroke are desirable. Recently, plasma Aβ40 was suggested as an independent cerebrovascular risk factor candidate.
Methods: We investigated eight plasma samples of patients with clinical signs of acute cerebral ischemia for derangements of plasma amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptide patterns as compared to 13 patients with other neuropsychiatric diseases. For the analysis of plasma, we used immunoprecipitation followed by the quantitative Aβ-SDS-PAGE/immunoblot.
Results: The major outcome was a striking decrease of Aβ1-40 in plasma paralleled by an increase in the ratio of Aβ1-38/Aβ1-40 in two patients with acute stroke. Interestingly, these patients had an onset of symptoms within only 2-4 hr before venous puncture and there was a strong correlation of Aβ1-38/Aβ1-40 levels with the time span between onset of symptoms and venous puncture.
Conclusion: From these results, we suggest the ratio of plasma Aβ1-38/Aβ1-40 as a possible biomarker for the early diagnosis of acute stroke.
© 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.