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Tryptophan is a marker of human postmortem brain tissue quality |
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| Authors: | Edna Grünblatt Camelia Maria Monoranu† Manuela Apfelbacher† Daniela Keller Tanja M Michel‡ Irina Alafuzoff§§§§ Isidro Ferrer¶ Safa Al-Saraj Kathy Keyvani†† rea Schmitt‡‡ Peter Falkai‡‡ Jens Schittenhelm§§ Catriona McLean¶¶ Glenda M Halliday††† Clive Harper‡‡‡ Jürgen Deckert Wolfgang Roggendorf† Peter Riederer |
| Institution: | Clinical Neurochemistry, National Parkinson Foundation Centre of Excellence Research Laboratory, Clinic and Policlinic for Psychiatry, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Department of Neuropathology, Institute of Pathology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Department of Clinical Medicine, Kuopio University, Kuopio, Finland; Institut de Neuropathologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Clinical Neuropathology, London Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK; Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital, Münster, Germany; Clinic of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany; Institute of Brain Research (Neuropathology), Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Department of Anatomical Pathology, Monash University, The Alfred Hospital, Prahran, Victoria, Australia; National Neural Tissue Resource Centre, Australian Brain Bank Network, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute and the University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; New South Wales Tissue Resource Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Asutralia; Department of Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden |
| Abstract: | Postmortem human brain tissue is widely used in neuroscience research, but use of tissue originating from different brain bank centers is considered inaccurate because of possible heterogeneity in sample quality. There is thus a need for well-characterized markers to assess the quality of postmortem brain tissue. Toward this aim, we determined tryptophan (TRP) concentrations, phosphofructokinase-1 and glutamate decarboxylase activities in 119 brain tissue samples. These neurochemical parameters were tested in samples from autopsied individuals, including control and pathological cases provided by 10 different brain bank centers. Parameters were assessed for correlation with agonal state, postmortem interval, age and gender, brain region, preservation and freezing methods, storage conditions and storage time, RNA integrity, and tissue pH value. TRP concentrations were elevated significantly ( p = 0.045) with increased postmortem interval; which might indicate increased protein degradation. Therefore, TRP concentration might be one useful and convenient marker for estimating the quality of human postmortem brain tissue. |
| Keywords: | brain glutamate decarboxylase phosphofructokinase-1 postmortem tryptophan |