Cognitive decline and oxidative stress [Declino cognitivo e stress ossidativo]

Introduction. The pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is largely unknown. Several evidence document an involvement of oxidative stress in the development of these two diseases. Materials and methods. We studied patients older than 65 years who came to our Alzheimer evaluation unit between January and December 2008. Patients underwent accurate history taking and complete clinical examination, nutritional evaluation, cognitive tests, functional status evaluation and a dosage of plasma isoprostane and total antioxidant status. Results. We studied 66 subjects with a median age of 77.14 years, 34 men (51.5%) and 32 women (48.5%). The mean concentration of isoprostane in the three groups were: 34.21 pg/ml in controls, 41.54 pg/ml in MCI and 31.84 pg/ml in patients with AD. For the Total Antioxidant Status the mean for the three groups were: controls 2.19 mmol/l, MCI 2.60 mmol/l and AD 3.40 mmol/l (p = 0.002 AD/controlli, 0.041 AD/MCI). Conclusions. Our results are in agreement with other studies showing a reduction of antioxidants enzymatic and non enzymatic defenses in serum of Alzheimer and mild cognitive impairment patients.