Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus Biomarkers Investigation

Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) is a clinical condition that induces cognitive deterioration that can be reverted, at least in part, by introducing ventricular-peritoneal diversion controlled by a miniaturized valve system. Mechanisms involved in such an improvement of cognitive function after liquor diversion are unknown. Oxysterols are a family of cholesterol-related compounds having diverse biological functions. Among others, they are involved in cholesterol homeostasis in the brain and are detectable in liquor, potentially impacting neurodegeneration. NPH is an ideal clinical model to study oxysterol distribution in liquor before and after ventricular-peritoneal diversion.

Normal-pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a progressive, chronic, and extremely complex syndrome, firstly described in 1957, which represents the most common form of reversible dementia in the elderly. The onset of NPH is on average in the seventh decade of life, with a slightly higher prevalence in males, and the Adam-Hakim triad, which includes dementia, urinary incontinence, and gait deviations, constitutes its clinical mainstay. Clinical manifestations of NPH are hard to notice, especially at the onset, and the patient itself may not grasp the presence of early signs of NPH until a major event - a fall, for example, occurs. Diagnosis of NPH is made upon clinical and radiological data and on the effectiveness of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunting by ventricular diversion. Mechanisms involved in the development of NPH are mainly unknown. Oxysterols are sterol compounds congeners of cholesterol with diverse biological properties. Some of them are linked to cholesterol trafficking in the brain - e.g. 24S-hydroxycholesterol (24S-HC) that allows the transport of cholesterol from the brain to the liver, and are supposedly implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. Evaluation of CSF oxysterols concentration in patients diagnosed with NPH constitutes the primary objective of this study. CSF levels of oxysterols will be evaluated at two key time points: during the diagnostic work-up, via a spinal tap, and during the surgical treatment of NPH, via ventricular diversion. In particular, within one month of recruitment, patients are evaluated clinically -including brain MR, cognitive function by MMSE, urinary incontinence, and gait deviation, and are subjected to the spinal tap test to meet the criteria of NPH. Patients eligible for surgery are then subjected, within one month of diagnosis, to ventricular-peritoneal diversion controlled by a miniaturized valve system. This procedure is known to induce impressive amelioration of symptoms, including cognitive ones. Oxysterol levels are correlated with the degree of cognitive function, i.e. MMSE score before and after surgery. A second sample of oxysterols is collected at the time of surgery from ventricular drainage to look at any potential difference between regional brain oxysterolome, I.,e. peripheral (spinal and central) nervous system. Oxysterols are quantitatively measured by isotope dilution gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The first objective is to compare oxysterol levels between two different areas of the circulating liquor, i.e. peripheral (spinal site) and central (ventricular site). In this context, the time frame of the two sample collection is set to two months, i.e. surgery is carried out within one month of the diagnostic spinal tap. The second objective is to assess the correlation between oxysterol levels and minimental status examination score. This study is designed to cast a light on the pathogenesis of NPH and to evaluate the possible correlation between CSF oxysterols concentration and clinical symptoms severity, with a focus on dementia, assessed via cognitive screening tests such as Mini-Mental State Evaluation (MMSE).