Bioenergetic data from a creatine monohydrate pilot trial in Alzheimer's disease
K Taylor M, Smith AN, Choi IY, Lee P, Kelly E, Arora T, Sullivan DK, Burns JM, Swerdlow RH, Wilkins HM
Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.) · 1 citation
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Controlled clinical trial (classified by our AI screen)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Mechanisms only
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Possibly industry funded
- Nonprofit
- Alzheimer's Association
- Government
- National Institutes of Health
- Government
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Government
- NIA NIH HHS
- Nonprofit
- Alzheimer's Association
- Authors
- At least one author declares a financial tie to industry
- Grants
- Alzheimer's Association (AARG-22-924314); National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (# UL1TR002366); National Institutes of Health (UL1 TR002366); National Institutes of Health (P30AG072973); National Institutes of Health (K01AG065487)
Based on 5 listed funder(s) and full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2026-01-01 · Alzheimers Dement (N Y) · vol. 12 · issue 1 · p. e70228
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Cited
- 0 citations · more than 12% of similar papers · 0.0× the field average
- References
- 34 works
- Access
- Open access (journal) · CC-BY-NC
- Research areas
- Muscle metabolism and nutrition · Nutrition and Health in Aging · Diet and metabolism studies
- Keywords
- Pilot trial, Creatine, Bioenergetics, Disease, Clinical trial, Pilot program
10 authors
From US
- Matthew K Taylor · correspondingAlzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative; University of Kansas Medical Center
- Aaron N SmithUniversity of Kansas Medical Center
- In‐Young ChoiUniversity of Kansas Medical Center
- Phil Young LeeUniversity of Kansas Medical Center
- Emma KellyUniversity of Kansas Medical Center
- Tanu AroraUniversity of Kansas Medical Center
Abstract
Background
Creatine monohydrate (CrM) may mitigate bioenergetic failure in Alzheimer's disease (AD) by supporting ATP buffering and modulating mitochondrial function. Building upon our previous findings that CrM is associated with increased brain creatine (Cr) and improved cognition in AD, we investigated our hypothesis that CrM is associated with improved bioenergetic biomarkers in AD.
Methods
In this single-arm pilot featuring participants with AD (n = 20, 35% female), we investigated changes in bioenergetic biomarkers after 8 weeks of CrM supplementation (20 g/day). We measured brain concentration of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and glutathione (GSH) using 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We measured platelet and lymphocyte mitochondrial respiration using Oroboros Oxygraph-2K respirometry, lymphocyte adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) using a bioluminescent assay, and lymphocyte reactive oxygen species (ROS) with flow cytometry using Amplex Red and MitoSOX. We also investigated sex-dependent bioenergetic responses.
Results
Brain NAA and GSH did not change. In females only, both platelet and lymphocyte mitochondrial respiration increased (p p p < 0.001) levels rose significantly in both sexes while ATP/ADP ratio, superoxide, and hydrogen peroxide remained stable.
Discussion
These data suggest CrM may augment systemic energy availability in both sexes and mitochondrial capacity in a sex-specific manner in AD. Interpretation of results from this pilot study is limited by lacking a control group, small sample size, and its relatively short timeframe. However, these preliminary findings support further investigation of CrM as a potential bioenergetic intervention in AD with well-designed RCTs, including exploration of potential sex-specific bioenergetic responses to CrM.
Trial registration
ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05383833, registered on May 20, 2022.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY-NC).
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