Correlations of Blood and Brain NMR Metabolomics with Mouse Models of Alzheimer’s Disease

Motivation: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis currently relies on clinical evaluation, and definitive disease characterization can only be accomplished from tissue pathology during autopsy. Goal(s): Evaluations of AD metabolomics using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to identify potential biomarkers that can differentiate AD from non-AD conditions. Approach: We collected cortex, hippocampus, and blood samples from mice with and without AD, followed by NMR analysis. Results: NMR could differentiate between AD and wild-type (WT) conditions for all tissue types, and metabolomic differences in several spectral regions were observed across disease conditions, leading to the identification of potential contributing metabolites and metabolic pathways. Impact: HRMAS NMR-based metabolomic evaluations can differentiate mice with and without Alzheimer’s disease (AD), characterize metabolic states within brain and blood samples, and identify possible AD biomarkers. It has potential for in vivo implementation and may improve AD diagnosis in clinic.