Abnormal cognition, sleep, eeg and brain metabolism in a novel knock-in alzheimer mouse, plb1

Late-stage neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are β-amyloid (βA) and hyperphosphorylated tau peptides, aggregated into plaques and tangles, respectively. Corresponding phenotypes have been mimicked in existing transgenic mice, however, the translational value of aggressive over-expression has recently been questioned. As controlled gene expression may offer animal models with better predictive validity, we set out to design a transgenic mouse model that circumvents complications arising from pronuclear injection and massive over-expression, by targeted insertion of human mutated amyloid and tau transgenes, under the forebrain- and neurone-specific CaMKIIα promoter, termed PLB1 Double. Crossing with an existing presenilin 1 line resulted in PLB1 Triple mice. PLB1 Triple mice presented with stable gene expression and age-related pathology of intra-neuronal amyloid and hyperphosphorylated tau in hippocampus and cortex from 6 months onwards. At this early stage, pre-clinical 18FDG PET/CT imaging revealed cortical hypometabolism with increased metabolic activity in basal forebrain and ventral midbrain. Quantitative EEG analyses yielded heightened delta power during wakefulness and REM sleep, and time in wakefulness was already reliably enhanced at 6 months of age. These anomalies were paralleled by impairments in long-term and short-term hippocampal plasticity and preceded cognitive deficits in recognition memory, spatial learning, and sleep fragmentation all emerging at ~12 months. These data suggest that prodromal AD phenotypes can be successfully modelled in transgenic mice devoid of fibrillary plaque or tangle development. PLB1 Triple mice progress from a mild (MCI-like) state to a more comprehensive AD-relevant phenotype, which are accessible using translational tools such as wireless EEG and microPET/CT.</p

Abnormal cognition, sleep, EEG and brain metabolism in a novel knock-in Alzheimer mouse, PLB1

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A study of factors regulating the autonomous proliferation of the steroid hormone-induced LJ6195 murine reproductive tract tumor

Neonatal estrogen treatment of BALB/c mice results in the unregulated proliferation of the cervicovaginal epithelium and eventually tumorigenesis. The conversion of the normally estrogen responsive cyclic proliferation of the vaginal epithelium to a continuous estrogen-independent pattern of growth is a complex phenomenon. The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of the mechanism(s) by which steroid hormone administration during a critical period of development alters the cyclic proliferation of vaginal epithelium, ultimately leading to carcinogenesis in the adult animal. The LJ6195 murine cervicovaginal tumor was induced by treating newborn female BALB/c mice with 20 $\mu$g 17$\beta$-estradiol plus 100 $\mu$g progesterone for the first 5 days after birth. In contrast to proliferation of the normal vaginal epithelium, proliferation of LJ6195 is not regulated by estradiol. Northern blot analysis of RNA from vaginal tracts of normal mice, neonatal-estrogen treated mice, and LJ6195 indicate that there is an alteration in the expression of several genes such as the estrogen receptor, c-fos, and HER2/neu. In response to neonatal estrogen treatment, the estrogen receptor is down regulated in the murine vaginal tract. Therefore, the estrogen-independent nature of this tissue is established as early as 3 months after treatment. There is strong evidence that the proliferation of LJ6195 is regulated through an autocrine growth pathway. The LJ6195 tumor expresses mRNA for the epidermal growth factor receptor. In addition, conditioned medium from the LJ6195 tumor cell line contains a growth factor(s) with epidermal growth factor-like activity. Conditioned medium from the LJ6195 cell line stimulated the proliferation of the EGF-dependent COMMA D mouse mammary gland cell line in a dose-dependent manner. The addition of an anti-mEGF-antibody to LJ6195 cell cultures significantly decreased growth. These results suggest that the EGF-receptor mediated growth pathway may play a role in regulating the estrogen-independent proliferation of the LJ6195 tumor

Mouse pancreatic beta-cells exhibit preserved glucose competence after disruption of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor gene

Previous work suggested that glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) can acutely regulate insulin secretion in two ways, I)by acting as an incretin, causing amplification of glucose-induced insulin release when glucose is given orally as opposed to intravenous glucose injection; and 2) by keeping the beta-cell population in a glucose-competent state. The observation that mice with homozygous disruption of the GLP-1 receptor gene are diabetic with a diminished incretin response to glucose underlines the first function in vivo. Isolated islets of Langerhans from GLP-1 receptor -/- mice mere studied to assess the second function in vitro. Absence of pancreatic GLP-1 receptor function was observed in GLP-1 receptor -/- mice, as exemplified by loss of [I-125]GLP-1 binding to pancreatic islets in situ and by the lack of GLP-1 potentiation of glucose-induced insulin secretion from perifused islets. Acute glucose competence of the beta-cells, assessed by perifusing islets with stepwise increases of the medium glucose concentration, was well preserved in GLP-1 receptor -/- islets in terms of insulin secretion. Furthermore, neither islet nor total pancreatic insulin content was significantly changed in the GLP-1 receptor -/- mice when compared with age- and sex-matched controls. In conclusion, mouse islets exhibit preserved insulin storage capacity and glucose-dependent insulin secretion despite the loss of functional GLP-1 receptors. The results demonstrate that the glucose responsiveness of islet beta-cells is well preserved in the absence of GLP-1 receptor signaling

Pathological Hallmarks, Clinical Parallels, and Value for Drug Testing in Alzheimer's Disease of the APP[V717I] London Transgenic Mouse Model

The APP[V717I] London (APP-Ld) mouse model recapitulates important pathological and clinical hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is therefore a valuable paradigm for evaluating therapeutic candidates. Historically, both the parenchymal and vascular amyloid deposits, and more recently, truncated and pyroglutamate-modified Abeta3(pE)-42 species, are perceived as important hallmarks of AD-pathology. Late stage symptoms are preceded by robust deficits in orientation and memory that correlate in time with Abeta oligomerization and GSK3-mediated phosphorylation of endogenous murine Tau, all markers that have gained considerable interest during the last decade. Clinical parallels with AD patients and the value of the APP-Ld transgenic mouse model for preclinical in vivo testing of candidate drugs are discussed

Enhanced glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide secretion and insulinotropic action in glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (-/-) mice

Incretins are gastrointestinal hormones that act on the pancreas to potentiate glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Despite the physiological importance of the enteroinsular axis, disruption of glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 action is associated with only modest glucose intolerance in GLP-1 receptor -/- (GLP-1R -/-) mice. me show here that GLP-1R -/- mice exhibit compensatory changes in the enteroinsular axis via increased glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) secretion and enhanced GIP action. Serum GIP levels in GLP-1R -/- mice were significantly elevated versus those in +/+ control mice after an oral glucose tolerance test (369 +/- 40 vs. 236 +/- 28 pmol/l; P less than or equal to 0.02). Furthermore, GIP perfusion of mice pancreas and isolated islets in the presence of elevated glucose concentrations elicited a significantly greater insulin response in GLP-1R -/- than in +/+ mice (P less than or equal to 0.02-0.05). In contrast, no significant perturbation in the insulin response to perfused glucagon was detected under conditions of low (4.4 mmol/l) or high (16.6 mmol/l) glucose in GLP-1R -/- mice. Total pancreatic insulin but not glucagon content was significantly reduced in GLP-1R -/- compared with in +/+ mice (77 +/- 9 vs. 121 +/- 10 pmol/mg protein; P less than or equal to 0.005). These observations suggest that upregulation of the GIP component of the enteroinsular axis, at the levels of GLP secretion and action, modifies the phenotype resulting from interruption of the insulinotropic activity of GLP-1 in vivo