[2025-1] Kashiwagi, K. et al., Methods Enzymol 715, 117-135 (2025)

Acrolein (CH₂=CH-CHO) is an unsaturated aldehyde, produced primarily from spermine [NH₂(CH₂)₃NH(CH₂)₄NH(CH₂)₃NH₂] by spermine oxidase (SMOX), and shows high reactivity with protein cysteine- and lysine-residues to produce protein-conjugated acrolein (PC-Acro) or amino acid-conjugated acrolein (AC-Acro). Increase in PC-Acro in plasma has been identified as a biomarker for stroke, silent brain infarction (SBI) and dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease. In contrast, decrease in AC-Acro and taurine in urine was observed in dementia. In addition, properties of proteins such as glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and cytoskeleton proteins are altered by conjugation with acrolein.