Circulating plasmalogen levels and Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive scores in Alzheimer patients.

Background: Plasmalogens, which are key structural phospholipids in brain membranes, are decreased in the brain and serum of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD). We performed this pilot study to evaluate the relation between the levels of circulating plasmalogens and Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive (ADAS-Cog) scores in patients with AD.

Methods: We evaluated participants' ADAS-Cog scores and serum plasmalogen levels.

Peripheral ethanolamine plasmalogen deficiency: a logical causative factor in Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Although dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) is the most common form of dementia, the severity of dementia is only weakly correlated with DAT pathology. In contrast, postmortem measurements of cholinergic function and membrane ethanolamine plasmalogen (PlsEtn) content in the cortex and hippocampus correlate with the severity of dementia in DAT. Currently, the largest risk factor for DAT is age.