Three plasma metabolites in elderly patients differentiate mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease: a pilot study.

The metabolomic profile of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may suggest potential diagnostic biomarkers and provide information on the pathophysiology of dementia. Our aim was to quantify plasmatic metabolites of AD patients, MCI and controls. We investigated the metabolomic profile-using the AbsoluteIDQ®p180 assay-of 79 older adults with primary cognitive impairment (34 AD and 20 MCI) and 25 healthy elders (controls). A cluster analysis revealed that a combination C12-DC, C12 and PCaaC26:0 could differentiate the patients according to diagnostic. Future studies should combine metabolomic profiles with other biomarkers to identify diagnostic groups.