Free radicals in Alzheimer's disease: Lipid peroxidation biomarkers

Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, has tremendous social and economic impact worldwide. Research has shown an association between pathologic development of AD and increased free-radical production. As such, the role of peroxidation in brain lipid damage and AD progression has received special attention. Previous studies on lipid peroxidation have improved our understanding of the unique pathophysiologic processes involved in AD. These studies have also served to identify potentially new biomarkers including lipid peroxidation metabolites for diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. Unfortunately, these putative markers have generated controversial results and further research, especially early stage AD, is clearly warranted. The aim of this paper is to review the usefulness of lipid peroxidation biomarkers in AD diagnosis and prognosis as well as monitoring disease development and therapeutic treatment thereof.