Affiliations: [a]
Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience Center, National Human Brain Bank for Development and Function, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
| [b] Joint Laboratory of Anesthesia and Pain, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Chao Ma, Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, No. 5 Dongdansantiao, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100005, China. Tel.: +86 01069156469; E-mail: machao@ibms.cams.cn.
Abstract: Background:Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most challenging diseases causing an increasing burden worldwide. Although the neuropathologic diagnosis of AD has been established for many years, the metabolic changes in neuropathologic diagnosed AD samples have not been fully investigated. Objective:To elucidate the potential metabolism dysregulation in the postmortem human brain samples assessed by AD related pathological examination. Methods:We performed untargeted and targeted metabolomics in 44 postmortem human brain tissues. The metabolic differences in the hippocampus between AD group and control (NC) group were compared. Results:The results show that a pervasive metabolic dysregulation including phenylalanine metabolism, valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis, biotin metabolism, and purine metabolism are associated with AD pathology. Targeted metabolomics reveal that phenylalanine, phenylpyruvic acid, and N-acetyl-L-phenylalanine are upregulated in AD samples. In addition, the enzyme IL-4I1 catalyzing transformation from phenylalanine to phenylpyruvic acid is also upregulated in AD samples. Conclusion:There is a pervasive metabolic dysregulation in hippocampus with AD-related pathological changes. Our study suggests that the dysregulation of phenylalanine metabolism in hippocampus may be an important pathogenesis for AD pathology formation.
