Detecting D-amino acids levels in serum as precocious biomarkers for AD

PI:

Luciano Piubelli, Silvia Sacchi, Loredano Pollegioni

Participants:
Valentina Rabattoni, Giulia Murtas

Publications:

• Piubelli L. et al., 2021. Serum D-serine levels are altered in early phases of Alzheimer’s disease: towards a precocious biomarker. Transl. Psych., 11:77. doi: org/10.1038/s41398-021-01202-3.

• Piubelli L. et al., 2021. The role of D-amino acids in Alzheimer’s disease. J. Alzheimers Dis. doi: 10.3233/JAD-201217. Review. 

Fundings:

Not funded

Collaborations:

• Marco Mauri and Maurizio Versino, Osp. Circolo, ASST Sette Laghi and University of Insubria, Varese, IT

• Alessandro Usiello, Univ. of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Caserta, IT

D-Serine and D-aspartate act as neuromodulators of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDAR) that are involved in many neuropsychiatric pathologies, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In order to clarify whether the levels of these molecules are deregulated in AD, and with the ambitious goal to identify novel, precocious and easy to determine biomarkers, serum levels of L- and D-enantiomers of serine and aspartate are determined by HPLC. Data obtained from aged-matched healthy subject (CDR0) and AD patients with mild (CDR1) or moderate (CDR2) dementia showed that serum
D-serine level and D-/total serine ratio significantly increased with the progression of the disease.