Significance of serum neuron-specific enolase in transient global amnesia

Abstract

Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) is a glycolytic enzyme, which is associated with neuronal cell dysfunction in the brain. This study evaluated the role of serum NSE levels of patients with transient global amnesia (TGA). In addition, the relationship between serum NSE levels and the clinical features of TGA was explored. Forty-eight patients with TGA were prospectively included, and their serum NSE levels were measured. We investigated serum NSE levels in patients with TGA. In addition, we analyzed the differences in clinical characteristics between patients with elevated and normal serum NSE levels. Of the 48 patients with TGA, 16 patients (33.3%) had elevated serum NSE levels (25.0 ± 11.5 ng/mL), whereas 32 patients (66.7%) showed normal serum NSE levels (12.8 ± 2.1 ng/mL). The patients with elevated serum NSE levels exhibited higher levels of cognitive impairment than those with normal serum NSE levels (4/16 vs. 1/32, p = 0.036). The serum NSE levels showed a relatively high discrimination (AUC 0.684) between patients with and without cognitive impairment, with 80.0% sensitivity and 74.4% specificity at a cut-off value 17.3 ng/mL. A third of all patients with TGA carry elevated serum NSE levels, which suggests that the neuronal cell dysfunction could be associated with TGA pathogenesis. In addition, it might be correlated with cognitive impairment.