RESUMEN
No model fully recapitulates the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although the triple-transgenic mouse model of AD (3xTg-AD) expresses Aß plaques and tau-laden neurofibrillary tangles, as well as synaptic and behavioral deficits, it does not display frank neuronal loss. Because old age is the most important risk factor in AD, senescence-related interactions might be lacking to truly establish an AD-like environment. To investigate this hypothesis, we bred the 3xTg-AD mouse with the senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8), a model of accelerated aging. We generated four groups of heterozygous mice with either the SAMP8 or SAMR1 (senescence-resistant-1) genotype, along with either the 3xTg-AD or non-transgenic (NonTg) genotype. Despite no differences among groups in total latency to escape the Barnes maze, a greater number of errors were noticed before entering the target hole in 19-month-old P8/3xTg-AD mice at day 5, compared to other groups. Postmortem analyses revealed increased cortical levels of phospho-tau (Thr231) in female P8/3xTg-AD mice (+277% vs. R1/3xTg-AD mice), without other tau-related changes. Female P8/3xTg-AD mice exhibited higher cortical soluble Aß40 and Aß42 concentrations (Aß40, +85%; Aß42, +35% vs. R1/3xTg-AD), whereas insoluble forms remained unchanged. Higher Aß42 load coincided with increased astroglial activation in female P8/3xTg-AD mice, as measured with glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) (+57% vs. R1/3xTg-AD mice). To probe neuronal degeneration, concentrations of neuronal nuclei (NeuN) were measured, but no differences were detected between groups. Altogether, the SAMP8 genotype had deleterious effects on spatial memory and exerted female-specific aggravation of AD neuropathology without overt neurodegeneration in 3xTg-AD mice.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedad de Alzheimer , Modelos Animales de Enfermedad , Ratones Transgénicos , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/metabolismo , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/patología , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/psicología , Péptidos beta-Amiloides/metabolismo , Precursor de Proteína beta-Amiloide/genética , Precursor de Proteína beta-Amiloide/metabolismo , Animales , Ansiedad/metabolismo , Ansiedad/patología , Apolipoproteínas E/metabolismo , Peso Corporal/fisiología , Corteza Cerebral/metabolismo , Corteza Cerebral/patología , Femenino , Proteína Ácida Fibrilar de la Glía/metabolismo , Gliosis/metabolismo , Gliosis/patología , Humanos , Ratones de la Cepa 129 , Ratones Endogámicos C57BL , Actividad Motora/fisiología , Fragmentos de Péptidos/metabolismo , Memoria Espacial/fisiología , Especificidad de la Especie , Proteínas tau/genética , Proteínas tau/metabolismoRESUMEN
Dietary supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) reduces amyloid-ß (Aß) and tau pathology and improves cognitive performance in animal models of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To exclude confounding variables associated with the diet, we crossed 3 × Tg-AD mice (modeling AD neuropathology) with transgenic Fat-1 mice that express the fat-1 gene encoding a PUFA desaturase, which endogenously produces n-3 PUFA from n-6 PUFA. The expression of fat-1 shifted the n-3:n-6 PUFA ratio upward in the brain (+11%, p < 0.001), including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; +5%, p < 0.001) in 20 month-old mice. The expression of fat-1 decreased the levels of soluble Aß42 (-41%, p < 0.01) at 20 months without reducing the level of insoluble forms of Aß40 and Aß42 in the brain of 3 × Tg-AD mice. The 3 × Tg-AD/Fat-1 mice exhibited lower cortical levels of both soluble (-25%, p < 0.05) and insoluble phosphorylated tau (-55%, p < 0.05) compared to 3 × Tg-AD mice, but only in 20 month-old animals. Whereas a decrease of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II was observed in 3 × Tg-AD/Fat-1 mice (-039%, p < 0.05), altered tau phosphorylation could not be related to changes in glycogen synthase kinase 3ß, cyclin-dependent kinase 5, or protein phosphatase type 2A enzymatic activity. In addition, the expression of the fat-1 transgene prevented the increase of glial fibrillary acidic protein (-37%, p < 0.01) observed in 20 month-old 3 × Tg-AD mice. In conclusion, the expression of fat-1 in 3 × Tg-AD mice increases brain DHA and induces biomarker changes that are consistent with a beneficial effect against an AD-like neuropathology.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedad de Alzheimer/metabolismo , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/patología , Encéfalo/metabolismo , Ácidos Grasos Omega-3/metabolismo , Ácidos Grasos Omega-6/metabolismo , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/genética , Precursor de Proteína beta-Amiloide/genética , Precursor de Proteína beta-Amiloide/metabolismo , Análisis de Varianza , Animales , Proteína Quinasa Tipo 2 Dependiente de Calcio Calmodulina , Cofilina 1/metabolismo , Quinasa 5 Dependiente de la Ciclina , Modelos Animales de Enfermedad , Ácidos Docosahexaenoicos , Ensayo de Inmunoadsorción Enzimática , Regulación de la Expresión Génica/genética , Humanos , Ratones , Ratones Endogámicos C57BL , Ratones Transgénicos , Mutación/genética , Proteínas del Tejido Nervioso/metabolismo , Fosforilación , Presenilina-1/genética , Presenilina-1/metabolismo , Transducción de Señal/genética , Estadística como Asunto , Proteínas tau/genética , Proteínas tau/metabolismoRESUMEN
Aging and metabolism-related disorders are risk factors for Alzheimer disease (AD). Because sirtuins may increase the life span through regulation of cellular metabolism, we compared the concentration of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) in the brains of AD patients (n = 19) and controls (n = 22) using Western immunoblots and in situ hybridization. We report a significant reduction of SIRT1 (messenger RNA [mRNA], -29%; protein, -45%) in the parietal cortex of AD patients, but not in the cerebellum. Further analyses in a second cohort of 36 subjects confirmed that cortical SIRT1 was decreased in AD but not in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. SIRT1 mRNA and its translated protein correlated negatively with the duration of symptoms (mRNA, r2 = -0.367; protein, r2 = -0.326) and the accumulation of paired helical filament tau (mRNA, r2 = -0.230; protein, r2 = -0.119), but weakly with insoluble amyloid-beta 42 (mRNA, r2= -0.090; protein, r2 = -0.072). A significant relationship between SIRT1 levels and global cognition scores proximate to death was also found (r2= +0.09, p = 0.049). In contrast, cortical SIRT1 levels remained unchanged in a triple-transgenic animal model of AD. Collectively, our results indicate that loss of SIRT1 is closely associated with the accumulation of amyloid-beta and tau in the cerebral cortex of persons with AD.