Increased Hair Polyamine Levels in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease
June 2001
in “
Annals of neurology
”
TLDR Alzheimer's patients have higher levels of certain chemicals in their hair.
The study examined hair polyamine levels in 34 female participants, including 16 with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 18 healthy controls. It found that AD patients had significantly higher levels of putrescine, spermidine, and spermine in their hair compared to healthy controls, with putrescine at 173.01 ng/g versus 48.03 ng/g, spermidine at 1,082.71 ng/g versus 233.77 ng/g, and spermine at 1,973.22 ng/g versus 143.14 ng/g. The spermidine to spermine ratio was also lower in AD patients (0.66) compared to controls (1.86). These results suggested that elevated hair polyamine levels and a decreased Spd/Spm ratio could potentially serve as biomarkers for AD.
