Antioxidant clinical trials in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a highly disabling progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a steadily growing number of patients, by the absence of a cure for the disease and by great difficulties in diagnosing in the preclinical phase. Progresses in defining the complex etiopathogenesis of AD consider oxidative stress a core aspect as far as both AD onset and progression are concerned. However, clinical trials of antioxidants in AD have brought conflicting conclusions. In this review, we report the main results of clinical trials with antioxidants in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD. Although available data do not warrant the doubtless use of antioxidants in AD, they are characterized by extremely poor comparability and the absence of a substantial clinical benefit of antioxidants in AD is not disproved to date. Furthermore, the role of vascular damage that contributes to oxidative stress in AD should be addressed in testing antioxidant treatments. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Antioxidants and Antioxidant Treatment in Disease.
Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Perugia, Italy. mecocci@unipg.it
Patrizia
P
Mecocci
Maria Cristina
MC
Polidori
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans
D000975:Antioxidants