D Karcher

Publications (3)5.31 Total impact

• Article: Detection of neuron specific enolase concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid from patients with neurological disorders by means of a sensitive enzyme immunoassay.

  K Vermuyten, A Lowenthal, D Karcher
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  ABSTRACT: An enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of neuron specific enolase (NSE) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was developed. The sensitivity of the ELISA was less than 1 microgram/ml. This sensitivity is comparable with radioimmunoassays which have the disadvantage that radiolabelled products are used. The developed assay was used to measure cerebrospinal fluid neuron specific enolase (CSF-NSE) levels in 1178 patients with neurological disorders to establish its potential usefulness and clinical application. CSF-NSE levels in this group of patients were independent of sex and no correlation with age was found. CSF-NSE was significantly increased in Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, meningeal hemorrhage, thrombosis, Guillain-Barré syndrome and in schizophrenia.
  Clinica Chimica Acta 03/1990; 187(2):69-78. · 2.54 Impact Factor
• Article: A serum protein involved in aging?

  K Z Ai, K Vermuyten, P P De Deyn, A Lowenthal, D Karcher
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  ABSTRACT: Aging of the brain is characterized, in part, by the appearance of protein anomalies. The proteins deposited within the nervous system structures are hardly soluble. This physiological phenomenon turns out to be pathological, quantitatively at least, and perhaps even qualitatively, in dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT). One might wonder whether the brain protein anomalies are related to a general process and, thus, could generate anomalies of the serum proteins. Therefore, we examined, with two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE), 120 serum samples collected from different neurological patients and 24 serum samples from a control group, and we reached the following conclusion: a protein spot, normally not found and named 10M, corresponding to a molecular weight of 30 kDa with an isoelectric point of +/- 8, is seen in 31% of the patients affected with a neurological disease and in 90% of patients affected with DAT. The frequency of the appearance of this spot, seen after 2DE, increases with age. We wonder whether this protein is playing a role in the formation of the neuropathological lesions observed in DAT.
  Molecular and Chemical Neuropathology 01/1990; 11(3):131-41.
• Article: Blood and cerebrospinal fluid anomalies in brain ageing and Alzheimer's disease.

  B S Soler Federsppiel, D Karcher, A Lowenthal
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  ABSTRACT: The glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), myelin basic protein (MBP), S100 protein (S100), gamma gamma-enolase and neurofilament proteins were determined in the CSF of neurological patients. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), the GFAP values were very often increased but this was not specific to this disease. In 2 cases of familial AD, increases in neurofilament protein were detected. The determination of autoantibodies against neurofilament proteins in blood showed rather low values in AD, although they were higher than in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) and Chagas' disease. Increases were observed in diseases not related to AD such as vascular disorders and Parkinson's disease.
  Gerontology 02/1987; 33(3-4):193-6. · 2.78 Impact Factor