Differential diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease using spectrochemical analysis of blood

Significance Vibrational spectroscopy is an ideal technique for analysis of biofluids, as it provides a “spectral fingerprint” of all of the molecules present within a biological sample, thus generating a holistic picture of the sample’s status. Neurodegenerative diseases lack early and accurate diagnosis, and tests currently used for their detection are either invasive or expensive and time-consuming. This study used blood plasma to diagnose and differentiate various neurodegenerative diseases; the achieved sensitivities and specificities are equal to, or even higher than, the ones obtained by clinical/molecular methods. Herein, we show that spectroscopy could provide a simple and robust diagnostic test. Additional work should include asymptomatic individuals for an early screening test and exploration of neurodegenerative diseases at all stages of severity.