Paglia Giuseppe, Miedico Oto, Cristofano Adriana, Vitale Michela, Angiolillo Antonella, Chiaravalle Antonio Eugenio, Corso Gaetano, Di Costanzo Alfonso
Center for Biomedicine, European Academy of Bolzano/Bozen, Via Galvani 31, 39100 Bolzano, Italy.
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale di Puglia e Basilicata, via Manfredonia 20, 71121, Foggia, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2016 Mar 9;6:22769. doi: 10.1038/srep22769.
Element profiling is an interesting approach for understanding neurodegenerative processes, considering that compelling evidences show that element toxicity might play a crucial role in the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Aim of this study was to profile 22 serum elements in subjects with or at risk of AD. Thirtyfour patients with probable AD, 20 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 24 with subjective memory complaint (SMC) and 40 healthy subjects (HS) were included in the study. Manganese, iron, copper, zinc, selenium, thallium, antimony, mercury, vanadium and molybdenum changed significantly among the 4 groups. Several essential elements, such as manganese, selenium, zinc and iron tended to increase in SMC and then progressively to decrease in MCI and AD. Toxic elements show a variable behavior, since some elements tended to increase, while others tended to decrease in AD. A multivariate model, built using a panel of six essential elements (manganese, iron, copper, zinc, selenium and calcium) and their ratios, discriminated AD patients from HS with over 90% accuracy. These findings suggest that essential and toxic elements contribute to generate a distinctive signature during the progression of AD, and their monitoring in elderly might help to detect preclinical stages of AD.
鉴于有力证据表明元素毒性可能在阿尔茨海默病（AD）的发病和进展中起关键作用，元素分析是一种了解神经退行性过程的有趣方法。本研究的目的是分析AD患者或有AD风险的受试者血清中的22种元素。本研究纳入了34例可能患有AD的患者、20例轻度认知障碍（MCI）患者、24例主观记忆障碍（SMC）患者和40例健康受试者（HS）。锰、铁、铜、锌、硒、铊、锑、汞、钒和钼在这4组之间有显著变化。几种必需元素，如锰、硒、锌和铁，在SMC中趋于增加，然后在MCI和AD中逐渐减少。有毒元素表现出不同的变化趋势，因为有些元素在AD中趋于增加，而有些则趋于减少。使用一组六种必需元素（锰、铁、铜、锌、硒和钙）及其比例构建的多变量模型，区分AD患者和HS的准确率超过90%。这些发现表明，必需元素和有毒元素在AD进展过程中有助于形成独特的特征，对老年人进行这些元素的监测可能有助于检测AD的临床前期阶段。
