A method diagnosing Alzheimer's disease in a patient includes analyzing conformational changes in a band 3 protein of the patient yielding a time course of the conformational changes. One approach includes analyzing conformational changes in a band 3 protein by measuring band 3 Cl<->/HCO3<-> exchange overtime. In this approach a double exponential function is solved for two rate constant estimates by fitting the double exponential function to the time course. At least one of the rate constant estimates is used to determine whether the patient has Alzheimer's disease. A second approach includes analyzing conformational changes in a band 3 protein by measuring the emission spectrum of a stillbene bound to band 3, which emission changes in response to band 3 conformational changes. In this approach, a single exponentional function is solved for a parameter by fitting the single exponential function to the time course obtained. The parameter estimate is used to determine whether the patient has Alzheimer's disease.
METHOD FOR DIAGNOSING ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE