Abstract: ObjectiveTo explore the differences of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and normal elderly individuals in neuropsychology and ApoE genotype polymorphism.Methods23 patients with MCI and 28 normal controls were examined with the neuropsychological test and ApoE phenotypes. The neuropsychological test included mini-mental state examination (MMSE), activities of daily living scale (ADL), Preffer outpatient disability questionnair (POD), Fuld object memory evaluation (FOM), rapid verbal retrieve (RVR), digit span (DS), logical memory (LM), Geometry figures, clock drawing test (CDT), delayed recall, clinical dementia rating scale (CDR), global deterioration scale (GDS), Hachinski ischaemic scale (HIS) and center for epidemiological studies-depression scale (CES-D).ResultsMCI cases achieved significantly lower scores than healthy elderly in all cognitive function measures (P<0.05～0.001)except ADL,POD performance and naming, especially in logical memory and semantic memory, similar with the earlier period of AD. The ApoE genotype polymorphism examination showed that the rate of ApoE epsilon 4 allele carry in MCI patients was around 10 times to that in normal controls.ConclusionIndividuals with MCI appear to be at an increased risk of developing AD. Susceptible neuropsychological marker binding other biomarker, e.g. ApoE, can raise the sensibility and specificity in early diagnosis of AD.

Key words: mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease (AD), neuropsychology, ApoE