Altered free amino acid levels in brain cortex tissues of mice with Alzheimer's disease as their N(O,S)-ethoxycarbonyl/tert-butyldimethylsilyl derivatives

Abstract

The altered amino acid (AA) levels as neurotransmitter closely correlate to neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Target profiling analysis of nineteen AAs in brain cortex samples from three Tg2576 mice as AD model and three littermate mice as control model was achieved as their N(O,S)-ethoxycarbonyl/tert-butyidimethylsilyl derivatives by gas chromatography. Subsequently, star pattern recognition analysis was performed on the brain AA levels of AD mice after normalization to the corresponding control median values. As compared to control mice, gamma-aminobutyric acid among ten AAs found in brain samples was significantly reduced (P < 0.01) while leucine was significantly elevated (P < 0.02) in AD mice. The normalized AA levels of the three AD mice were transformed into distorted star patterns which was different from the decagonal shape of control median. The present method allowed visual discrimination of the three AD mice from the controls based on the ten normalized AA levels.