Dementia is a clinical syndrome characterized by cognitive impairment, in which there is disturbance of multiple higher cortical functions. The primary risk factor of dementia is old age, and due to significant changes in the worldwide demographic structure, the prevalence of cognitive impairment is increasing dramatically with aging populations in most countries. Alzheimer's disease is the predominant and leading cause of dementia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the modifications of amino acids that characterize the initial stages of dementia to help our understanding of the complex and multifactorial pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. A total of 123 participants were divided into two groups: healthy elderly subjects and patients with mild or moderate dementia. The results of this study indicate that the serum levels of three amino acids were changed significantly in patients with dementia, in relation to the subjects without dementia. In particular, we observed differences in concentrations for serine, arginine and isoleucine (all of them were significantly increased in patients with dementia, compared with the control group). Our results suggest that the metabolisms of some amino acids seem be changed in patients with dementia. We conclude that amino acid profiling might be helpful for the better understanding of biochemical and metabolic changes related to the pathogenesis and progression of dementia. However, considering the multifactorial, heterogenous and complex nature of this disease, validation with a greater study sample in further research is required.
Keywords: amino acids; arginine; isoleucine; mild dementia; moderate dementia; neurodegenerative diseases; serine.