Absence of Brain Antibodies in Senile Dementia
SENGA WHITTINGHAM M.B., Ch.B.(N.Z.), D.C.p.1,
VANDA LENNON M.B., B.S.2,
IAN R. MACKAY M.N., F.R.C.P., F.R.A.C.P.3,
G. VERNON DAVIES M.D., Ph.D., M.R.A.C.P.4, and
BRIAN DAVIES M.D., M.R.C.P., D.P.M., D.C.H., F.A.N.Z.C.P.5
1 Serologist to the Clinical Research Unit, The Clinical Research Unit of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, Australia
2 Postgraduate Scholar, Clinical Research Unit, The Clinical Research Unit of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, Australia
3 Head of the Clinical Research Unit, The Clinical Research Unit of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, Australia
4 Research Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, The Clinical Research Unit of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, Australia
5 Cato Professor of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, The Clinical Research Unit of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, Australia
Sera from 18 patients, 8 men and 10 women, with senile dementia were tested by immunofluorescence for antibodies to human brain cortex and by a radio-immunoassay for antibodies to myelin protein. No antibody specific to brain antigens was detected by either method.
Submitted on June 23, 1969
