title: A biomarker for severity of Alzheimer's disease: 1H-NMR resonances in cerebrospinal fluid correlate with performance in mini-mental-state-exam.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is no valid biomarker for severity of Alzheimer's disease (AD) available until now.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Therefore, we investigated (1)H-NMR spectroscopy for specific resonances as biomarkers for severity of AD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with diagnosed AD and healthy control subjects was analysed by one-dimensional water-suppressed (1)H-NMR spectroscopy. The resonances were correlated with the cognitive performance of the patients and controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Specific (1)H-NMR resonances showed higher intensities in AD patients than in control subjects. Mini-mental-state-exam scores correlated with (1)H-NMR resonances in AD patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  (1)H-NMR resonances of CSF are obviously valid biomarker for severity of AD, despite the lack of knowledge of the underlying molecular structure. Successful isolation and identification of these substances will most likely provide details to the pathophysiology of AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité-Universitäetsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Germany.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kork
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gentsch
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Holthues
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hellweg
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jankowski
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tepel
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zidek
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jankowski
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000523:psychology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011522:Protons; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D011522:Protons