Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39774493›Full record

ArticleMolecular psychiatry2025

Sex differences in mitochondrial free-carnitine levels in subjects at-risk and with Alzheimer's disease in two independent study cohorts.

Benedetta Bigio, Ricardo A S Lima-Filho, Olivia Barnhill, Felipe K Sudo, Claudia Drummond, Naima Assunção, Bart Vanderborght, James Beasley, Sarah Young, Aryeh Korman and 9 more

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Single-cell multiomics identifies an ALDH9A1-carnitine signaling axis driving resistance of NSCLC to immunotherapy.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  2. Doxycycline: An essential tool for Alzheimer's disease.Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie · 2025
    Review
  3. Signs of Alzheimer's Disease: Tied to Aging.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

19 authors.

Benedetta BigioDepartment of Psychiatry, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Ricardo A S Lima-FilhoInstitute of Medical Biochemistry Leopoldo de Meis, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0003-1168-149X
Olivia BarnhillHarold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
Felipe K SudoD'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0003-4738-1368
Claudia DrummondD'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Naima AssunçãoD'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Bart VanderborghtD'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
James BeasleyBiochemical Genetics Laboratory, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0147-9490
Sarah YoungBiochemical Genetics Laboratory, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA.
Aryeh KormanMetabolomics Laboratory, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6097-1998
Drew R JonesMetabolomics Laboratory, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8732-9818
David L SultzerDepartment of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, School of Medicine, and Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND), University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
Sergio T FerreiraInstitute of Medical Biochemistry Leopoldo de Meis, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0001-7160-9866
Paulo MattosD'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Elizabeth HeadInstitute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (MIND), University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
Fernanda Tovar-MollD'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Fernanda G De FeliceInstitute of Medical Biochemistry Leopoldo de Meis, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0001-8358-0589
Mychael V LourencoInstitute of Medical Biochemistry Leopoldo de Meis, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. mychael@bioqmed.ufrj.br.ORCID 0000-0002-1078-0296
Carla NascaDepartment of Psychiatry, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA. Carla.Nasca@nyulangone.org.ORCID 0000-0003-3348-6783

Funding

UC Irvine Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell CoreP50AG016573 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI LAFERLA, FRANK M · 2000 to 2019
$37.0M
The Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the University of California, IrvineP30AG066519 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI Elizabeth Head · 2020 to 2026
$27.9M
The Engaging Communities of Hispanics for Aging Research (ECHAR) NetworkR24AG065170 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON · PI MEDINA, LUIS D · 2020 to 2022
$2.5M
NIA NIH HHS P30 AG066519NIA NIH HHS P50 AG016573NIA NIH HHS R24 AG065170
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A major challenge in the development of more effective therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the identification of molecular mechanisms linked to specific pathophysiological features of the disease. Importantly AD has a two-fold higher incidence in women than men and a protracted prodromal phase characterized by amnestic mild-cognitive impairment (aMCI) suggesting that biological processes occurring early can initiate vulnerability to AD. Here, we used a sample of 125 subjects from two independent study cohorts to determine the levels in plasma (the most accessible specimen) of two essential mitochondrial markers acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC) and its derivative free-carnitine motivated by a mechanistic model in rodents in which targeting mitochondrial metabolism of LAC leads to the amelioration of cognitive function and boosts epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression. We report a sex-specific deficiency in free-carnitine levels in women with aMCI and early-AD compared to cognitively healthy controls; no change was observed in men. We also replicated the prior finding of decreased LAC levels in both women and men with AD, supporting the robustness of the study samples assayed in our new study. The magnitude of the sex-specific free-carnitine deficiency reflected the severity of cognitive dysfunction and held in two study cohorts. Furthermore, patients with the lower free-carnitine levels showed higher β-amyloid(Aβ) accumulation and t-Tau levels assayed in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Computational analyses showed that the mitochondrial markers assayed in plasma are at least as accurate as CSF measures to classify disease status. Together with the mechanistic platform in rodents, these translational findings lay the groundwork to create preventive individualized treatments targeting sex-specific changes in mitochondrial metabolism that may be subtle to early cognitive dysfunction of AD risk.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseCarnitineAcetylcarnitineAgedAged, 80 and overAmyloid beta-PeptidesBiomarkersCognitionCognitive DysfunctionCohort StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedMitochondriaSex CharacteristicsAcetylcarnitineAmyloid beta-PeptidesBiomarkersCarnitinetau Proteins

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.