title: Cerebrospinal fluid sulfatide is decreased in subjects with incipient dementia.
abstract: We recently noted a profound decline in brain sulfatides (ST) in subjects who died with incipient dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. Herein, we measured ST levels in cerebrospinal fluid in cognitively normal elderly and in subjects with mild cognitive impairment due to incipient demenia of the Alzheimer type. There was a significant decrease in cerebrospinal fluid ST and in the ST to phosphatidylinositol ratio in MCI subjects. The ST to phosphatidylinositol ratio accurately differentiated very mildly impaired subjects from controls on an individual basis. The cerebrospinal fluid ST to phosphatidylinositol ratio may be a very useful biomarker for the earliest clinical stage of Alzheimer's disease.
authors.affiliation: Division of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and the Departments of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. xianlin@pcg.wustl.edu
authors.forename: Xianlin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Anne M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Fagan
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Chengjie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Holtzman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010716:Phosphatidylinositols / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013433:Sulfoglycosphingolipids / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*
chemical_list: D010716:Phosphatidylinositols; D013433:Sulfoglycosphingolipids