Antioxidants for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment.

The isolated deficit in recent memory frequently associated with decline to Alzheimer's disease (AD) is defined as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The observed progression of MCI to AD suggests a common pathogenesis between these two clinical syndromes, and several neuroimaging, neuropsychological and biological methods are applied with the purpose of identifying subjects at risk of AD. Among these methods, the evaluation of a condition of oxidative stress is gaining increasing attention. Since oxidative stress seems to be involved in the earliest phases of AD, and MCI may be considered as a prodromal phase of dementia, it is an attractive issue to focus therapeutic interventions on the early phase of the disease.