An interventional study of biopsies of colon in Alzheimer Disease, sponsored by Nantes University Hospital. Withdrawn. Open to participants aged 50 Years to 80 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-24.
Sponsored by Nantes University Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
Help build ClinicalTrials.gg — short surveys, remote interviews or testing, in your language. Take part →
The close homology between the central and enteric nervous system suggests that a disease process affecting the central nervous system could also involve its enteric counterpart. This has already been demonstrated for patients with Parkinson's disease but needs to be proven for Alzheimer's disease. Studies on enteric nervous system during Alzheimer's disease are indeed in low number and don't have led to definite conclusion. The investigators thus propose to realize a complete analysis of the enteric nervous systems in Alzheimer's disease by studying the presence of "tau' protein, of beta-amyloid peptide,...
not only by immunohistochemical but also by a biochemical approach. This study will be realized from colonic samples.
The close homology between the central and enteric nervous system suggests that a disease process affecting the central nervous system could also involve its enteric counterpart. The investigators have recently shown in that the enteric neurons can be readily analyzed using routine colonic biopsies. The investigators propose that the enteric nervous system could represent a unique window to assess the neuropathology in living patients with a neurodegenerative disorder. The investigators have already used this approach to show that Parkinson's disease pathology was recapitulated in a single colonic biopsy. By contrast to Parkinson's disease, the detection of Alzheimer's disease pathology in the enteric neurons has so far failed. This may be due to the low number of human tissue samples in addition to the low sensitivity of the immunohistochemical methods that were used. The aim of the current research project will be therefore to reevaluate Alzheimer's disease pathology in a large number of human colonic samples using both a morphological and biochemical approach.
The Hypothesis is that the enteric nervous system could represent a unique window to assess the neuropathology in living patients with Alzheimer's disease. This might open the way to the development of novel Alzheimer's disease biomarkers that will directly assess the neuropathological process.
3,968 studies on the registry are indexed under Alzheimer Disease; 928 are open to participants now.
Browse Alzheimer Disease studies →Nantes University Hospital is the lead sponsor of 839 studies on the registry; 191 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
For patients with Alzheimer's disease :
For patients with Parkinson's disease:
For patients without neurodegenerative disease:
Exclusion Criteria:
For the 3 groups of patients : :
For patients with Alzheimer's disease and for patients with Parkinson's disease:
- Any neurological/neurodegenerative condition different from the group to which it belongs (e.g other than Alzheimer's disease for Alzheimer's disease group or other than Parkinson's disease for Parkinson's disease group….)
For patients without neurodegenerative disease:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
MMSE and MoCA
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
During the course of the colonoscopy that the patients should have in the context of their usual medical care, additional biopsies of colon will be removed to perform in vitro analysis for this study.
Other: biopsies of colon
During the course of the colonoscopy that the patients should have in the context of their usual medical care, additional biopsies of colon will be removed to perform in vitro analysis for this study.
Other: biopsies of colon
During the course of the colonoscopy that the patients should have in the context of their usual medical care, additional biopsies of colon will be removed to perform in vitro analysis for this study.
Other: biopsies of colon
Removal of additional biopsies of colon during the course of a colonoscopy planned for usual medical follow-up of patient
Differences in extracellular deposits of beta-amyloid peptide in the enteric nervous system between patients with Alzheimer's disease, patients with Parkinson's disease and patients without neurodegenerative disease.
In vitro analysis of the presence of beta-amyloid peptide in biopsies of colon from patients with Alzheimer's disease ans as controls from patients with Parkinson's disease and from patients without neurodegenerative disease
Time frame: colonoscopy performed within 3 months after inclusion in the study
Differences in tau protein in the enteric nervous system between patients with Alzheimer's disease, patients with Parkinson's disease and patients without neurodegenerative disease.
In vitro analysis of the presence of tau protein in biopsies of colon from patients with Alzheimer's disease ans as controls from patients with Parkinson's disease and from patients without neurodegenerative disease
Time frame: within 3 months after inclusion
Differences in neuronal loss in enteric submucosal tissue between patients with Alzheimer's disease, patients with Parkinson's disease and patients without neurodegenerative disease
In vitro analysis of the presence of neuronal loss in biopsies of colon from patients with Alzheimer's disease ans as controls from patients with Parkinson's disease and from patients without neurodegenerative disease
Time frame: within 3 months after inclusion
Differences in neuronal Glia cells in the enteric nervous system between patients with Alzheimer's disease, patients with Parkinson's disease and patients without neurodegenerative disease.
In vitro analysis of the presence neuronal glia cells in biopsies of colon from patients with Alzheimer's disease ans as controls from patients with Parkinson's disease and from patients without neurodegenerative disease
Time frame: within 3 months after inclusion
No study locations are listed for this record.
Ran from Apr 2018 to primary completion in Sep 2019, 16 months.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is withdrawn, as verified in Mar 2020. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.