Mononuclear cells in dementia

• Representative methodologies in detecting and quantifying fluctuation in dementia.
• Diagnostic sensitivity of PBMCs in patients with dementia.
• Neutral lipids determinations in PBMCs by oil red O.
• Changes in cholesterol esterification pathways may facilitate cognitive disorders.

According to the World Health Organization statistics, dementias are the largest contributors to disease burden in advanced market economies, and the leading cause of disability and dependence among older people worldwide. So far, several techniques have been developed to identify dementias with reasonable accuracy while the patient is still alive, however, no single of them has proven to be ideal, especially if you need to have a satisfactory early diagnosis. Studies of early onset dementia are largely limited by the inaccessibility to direct examination of the living human brain: it appears therefore that for a correct biochemical and molecular characterization of dementias, potential surrogate tissues must be identified. In this context, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) appear particularly attractive because they can be obtained in a minimally invasive manner and can be easily analyzed. This review focuses on the most representative methodologies and strategies in detecting and quantifying fluctuation in dementia that are currently being developed. In addition it provides a comprehensive evaluation of the diagnostic sensitivity of PBMCs in patients with dementia. Finally, it discusses the data supporting the use of the determination of neutral lipids (NLs) in PBMCs by Oil Red O (ORO) staining, which is a minimally invasive, cheap, easy and fast procedure, as the promising method for early detection of dementia and to search for new effective treatments.