Metabolomic-Driven Elucidation of Serum Disturbances Associated with Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

Numerous efforts have been made in the last years to discover potential biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease and its progression from mild cognitive impairment, considered as an intermediate phase in the development of Alzheimer's disease from normal aging. However, there is still a considerable lack of understanding about pathological mechanisms underlying to disease. In the present study, serum metabolomics based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatographymass spectrometry was applied to investigate metabolic differences between subjects with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment, as well as healthy controls. The most important findings can be associated with impaired metabolism of phospholipids and sphingolipids leading to membrane breakdown, wherein the nature of the fatty acids contained in the structure in terms of acyl chain length and degree of unsaturation appears to play a crucial role. Furthermore, several discriminant metabolites were found for the first time in relation to known pathological processes associated with Alzheimer's disease, such as the accumulation of acylcarnitines in relation to mitochondrial dysfunction, decreased levels of oleamide and monoglycerides as a result of defects in endocannabinoid system, or increased serum phenylacetylglutamine, which could reveal alterations in glutamine homeostasis. Therefore, these results represent a suitable approximation to understand the pathogenesis and progression of the disease.