Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Study of Phospholipid Metabolites in Alzheimer’s Disease

Summary

In summary, both postmortem and antemortem studies demonstrate that the levels of PME are elevated in the brains of AD patients. Similar levels of PME are found normally in the developing brain. It is truly remarkable that a devastating disease like AD should resemble the normal developing brain at a metabolic/ molecular level. The PME elevations appear to be an early molecular alteration in AD and can now be assessed antemortem with in vivo ³¹P NMR spectroscopy. This will prove invaluable in following the metabolic progression of the disease, will provide insights which can be used to develop new pharmacological treatments and will allow the metabolic response to pharmacological intervention to be assessed noninvasively.

The findings of antemortem alterations of erythrocyte membrane molecular dynamics and Na⁺-Li⁺ biology in AD patients will also provide valuable new insights into the molecular pathophysiology of AD. In addition, these studies require only a finger prick of blood (5 µl) and, therefore, can be used to study large populations of patients. Although the final chapters of AD are yet to be written, there are now significant insights into the “molecular plot.”