Hair sterol signatures coupled to multivariate data analysis reveal an increased 7β-hydroxycholesterol production in cognitive impairment

• Abnormal cholesterol metabolism may be associated with cognitive impairment.
• Hair sterol signatures were evaluated by a validated GC–MS method.
• Increased hair 7β-hydroxycholesterol was observed in cognitive impairment.
• Its metabolic ratios to cholesterol were negatively correlated with MMSE.
• Hair 7β-hydroxycholesterol may be a predictive biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease.

Altered cholesterol metabolism could be associated with cognitive impairment. The quantitative profiling of 19 hair sterols was developed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry coupled to multivariate data analysis. The limit of quantification of all sterols ranged from 5 to 20 ng/g, while the calibration linearity was higher than 0.98. The precision (% CV) and accuracy (% bias) ranged from 3.2% to 9.8% and from 83.2% to 119.4%, respectively. Among the sterols examined, 8 were quantitatively detected from two strands of 3-cm-long scalp hair samples of female participants, including mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n = 15), Alzheimer’s disease (AD, n = 31), and healthy controls (HC, n = 36). The cognitive impairment (MCI or AD) was correlated with a higher metabolic rate than that of HCs based on 7β-hydroxycholesterol (P < 0.005). Significant negative correlations (r = −0.822) were detected between Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores and hair sample metabolic ratios of 7β-hydroxycholesterol to cholesterol, which is an accepted, sensitive, and specific tool for discriminating HCs from individuals with MCI or AD. In conclusion, improved diagnostic values can be obtained using hair sterol signatures coupled with MMSE scores. This method may prove useful for predictive diagnosis in population screening of cognitive impairment.

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