부산대학교 도서관

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is considered to be a highly specific marker for glia. Here, we report on the expression of GFAP in neurons in the human hippocampus. Intriguingly, this neuronal GFAP is coded by out-of-frame splice variants and its expression is associated with Alzheimer pathology. We identified three novel GFAP splice forms: ? 135?nt, ? exon 6 and ? 164?nt. Neuronal GFAP is mainly observed in the pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus of Alzheimer and Down syndrome patients and aged controls, but not in neurons of patients suffering from hippocampal sclerosis. Apparently, the hippocampal neurons in patients with Alzheimer's disease pathology are capable of expressing glia-specific genes.Molecular Psychiatry (2003) 8, 786-796. doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001379 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]