Graphene as the basis of biological sensors for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative dementia

Cognitive disorders are currently being considered within the framework of the most pressing problems of modern clinical neurology in particular and medicine in general. Their significance is due to both the significant negative impact on the health and quality of life of patients, as well as the condition of their immediate relatives and society as a whole. In addition, widespread violations of higher cortical functions significantly affect the financial and economic indicators of individual groups of individuals and the state. These provisions determine the need to search for new highly effective ways of managing patients. The solution of this problem is impossible without the introduction of effective diagnostic methods that allow rapid and qualitative verification of the pathological process, especially at its early stages. Given the fact that Alzheimer’s disease plays a major role in the development of dementia in old age, the development of its diagnostic methods is the interest area for the researchers. Currently used diagnostic algorithms, which include, in addition to neuropsychological examination, such methods as the study of the content of β-amyloid and τ-protein in the cerebrospinal fluid, positron emission tomography, a number of others are either invasive or require expensive specialized equipment and have a high financial cost. This leads to a significant limitation of their use in everyday clinical practice. At the same time, certain successes have been achieved recently in the field of the introduction of nanotechnology products into medical science. This is the direction for the further prospects for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. One of the materials obtained in this direction is graphene, which is a two-dimensional allotropic modification of carbon with a number of specific physical properties. Currently biological sensors based on graphene are being developed, which have high sensitivity and specificity to the biomarkers under study and allow them to be determined in extremely low concentrations. The research in this direction may lead to the creation of a new diagnostic method that allows for the effective diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in the early stages, including at the outpatient level.