ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Metabolomic approach to Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis based on mass spectrometry

Raúl González-Domínguez, Tamara García-Barrera, and José-Luis Gómez-Ariza

Department of Chemistry and Material Science, Faculty of Experimental Science, University of Huelva, Campus de El Carmen, 21007 Huelva, Spain

E-mail: tamara@dqcm.uhu.es

Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease is the most common neurodegenerative disease, but there is still no cure and early diagnosis remains very difficult. For this reason, the discovery of new biomarkers is of great importance. The application of metabolomics is emerging in this field, based on the use of mass spectrometry as a technique of analysis. In this work, blood serum samples (from Alzheimer’s disease patients and healthy controls) were analysed by mass spectrometry in order to search for potential metabolomic biomarkers. The application of multivariate statistical tools (PLS-DA) enabled us to discriminate between groups. In addition, some phosphatidylcholine compounds were identified as markers of the disease.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease – metabolomics – biomarkers – mass spectrometry – phosphatidylcholines

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-012-0184-9

Chemical Papers 66 (9) 829–835 (2012)