Ketone bodies metabolism and alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia, and has the highest incidence rate in neurodegenerative disorders. As the aged population robustly arises in China, the number of patients with AD is increasing accordingly. Studies show that decline in glucose metabolism occurs prior to amyloid deposits, and ketone bodies are the main alternative substrates for glucose in brain. Thus, the bioenergetic shift to ketone bodies is a characteristic of AD at early stage. At present, the mechanism of regulation of ketone bodies metabolismin AD pathogenesis is still unknown. In-depth understanding of ketone bodies metabolism involved in the occurrence and process of AD will lay a foundation in looking for new markers in early diagnosis and exploring prevention strategy of AD. Here we review AD-related ketone bodies metabolism and its research progress.