Brain quinolinic acid in Alzheimer's dementia.

Quinolinic acid (QA) content was measured in postmortem frontal and temporal cortex, putamen and cerebellum obtained from patients with senile dementia of Alzheimer type (SDAT), Huntington's disease (HD) and controls, using a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method. There were no significant group differences in QA content of any of the regions examined. The data do not support the hypothesis that an accumulation of QA plays a role in neuronal degeneration occurring in the frontal and temporal cortex, putamen and cerebellum of patients with SDAT.