Brain is one of the richest organs in lipid content. Phospholipids (glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids) are important building blocks of cell membranes, which provide an optimal environment for protein interactions, trafficking and function. Because of that, alterations in their cellular levels could lead to different pathogenic processes in the brain, such as in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common type of dementia among older populations. There is increasing evidence that phospholipid changes occur during pathogenic processes in AD. It is known that lipids are tightly connected with metabolism of the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP), which produces Amyloid-beta peptide (Aβ), the main component of senile plaques, which represent the main pathological hallmark of AD. However, the mechanism(s) of the lipid-effect on Aβ metabolism and AD pathogenesis is still not completely understood. This review summarizes the current knowledge on phospholipid changes occurring during normal aging and discusses phospholipid changes in the human brain associated with different stages of AD, as well changes in the cerebrospinal fluid and blood/plasma, which are interesting potential biomarkers for AD diagnosis and disease monitoring. At the end, we have discussed future perspectives of phospholipid changes as potential biomarkers and as targets for development of novel treatment strategies against AD.

Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) -based techniques have recently been applied to study the interactions between β-site APP-cleaving enzyme-GFP (BACE1-GFP) and amyloid precursor protein-mRFP (APP-mRFP) in U373 glioblastoma cells. In this context, the role of APP-BACE1 proximity in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis has been discussed. FRET was found to depend on intracellular cholesterol levels and associated alterations in membrane stiffness. Here, NPC1 null cells (CHO-NPC1^−/−), exhibiting increased cholesterol levels and disturbed cholesterol transport similar to that observed in Niemann-Pick type C disease (NPC), were used to analyze the influence of altered cholesterol levels on APP-BACE1 proximity. Fluorescence lifetime measurements of whole CHO-wild type (WT) and CHO-NPC1^−/− cells (EPI-illumination microscopy), as well as their plasma membranes (total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy, TIRFM), were performed. Additionally, generalized polarization (GP) measurements of CHO-WT and CHO-NPC1^−/− cells incubated with the fluorescence marker laurdan were performed to determine membrane stiffness of plasma- and intracellular-membranes. CHO-NPC1^−/− cells showed higher membrane stiffness at intracellular- but not plasma-membranes, equivalent to cholesterol accumulation in late endosomes/lysosomes. Along with higher membrane stiffness, the FRET efficiency between BACE1-GFP and APP-mRFP was reduced at intracellular membranes, but not within the plasma membrane of CHO-NPC1^−/−. Our data show that FRET combined with TIRF is a powerful technique to determine protein proximity and membrane fluidity in cellular models of neurodegenerative diseases.

Low levels of amyloid-beta42 (Abeta42) and high total-tau (t-tau) or phosphorylated-tau (p181-tau) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were shown to be characteristic for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients and for mildly cognitively impaired (MCI) or non-demented individuals who will progress to AD. The goal of this study was to evaluate the benefit of CSF biomarker testing in a setting with no specialized dementia centers, in order to improve the accuracy of AD diagnosis and to identify individuals with incipient AD. Using ELISA assay we analyzed CSF Abeta42, t-tau and p181-tau levels among clinically diagnosed non-demented individuals, AD patients and individuals with uncertain dementia (n=36). CSF cut-off values of low Abeta42 (less than or equal to 530 pg/mL) and high t-tau (less than or equal to 350 pg/mL) or p181-tau (less than or equal to 52 pg/mL) were used to identify individuals with AD/MCI-CSF profile, regardless of clinical diagnosis. APOE genotyping was performed using PCR-RFLP method. In accord with previous studies we detected significantly decreased levels of CSF Abeta42 and increased tau and p181-tau levels in clinically diagnosed AD group vs. non-demented controls. CSF profiling identified individuals with a typical AD/MCI-CSF pattern in clinically referred non-demented group (9 percent) and among patients with uncertain dementia (41.7 percent). APOE epsilon4-allele was associated with the CSF biomarker changes typical for AD. This study shows that in a non-specialized setting CSF biomarker testing may be used as a screening tool for improving the accuracy of AD diagnosis and for predicting individuals with incipient Alzheimer’s disease who need to receive further clinical follow-up.