Serum excitatory amino acids concentrations in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To figure out changes of serum excitatory amino acids (EAAs) levels in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).Methods The levels of serum EAAs was assessed in 34 cognitively normal control subjects,30 patients with aMCI,and 32 patients with AD using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).Results ①Higher serum concentrations of glutamate((39.6?22.1) ?mol/L),alanine((282.5?71.3) ?mol/L) were found in the aMCI patients (P=0.044,P=0.007),and higher serum concentrations of glutamate ((42.2?21.8) ?mol/L),glycine ((464.2?142.6) ?moL/L) were found in the AD patients than in the control subjects (P=0.010,P=0.010).②No statistically significant difference of EAAs level between the aMCI and AD groups was found.③A close and positive correlation between the serum concentrations of glutamate, aspartate and the mini-mental status examination scores were found in AD patientsthe 2 amino acid levels were higher in patients with mild dementia((42.1?21.3),(55.0?29.0) ?mol/L) than those with moderate or severe dementia ((25.4?9.2) ?mol/L,P=0.023;(34.6?11.1) ?mol/L,P=0.036). Conclusion EAAs,correlating with the severity of the condition,play a significant role in AD,while aMCI patients also have disturbance of metabolism of EAAs,indicating that it has similar pathogenesis to AD.