Environmental Enrichment Mitigates Cognitive Deficits in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease

Epidemiological studies suggest that individuals with greater education or more cognitively demanding occupations have diminished risk of developing dementia. We wanted to test whether this effect could be recapitulated in rodents using environmental enrichment, a paradigm well documented to attenuate behavioral deficits induced by various pathological insults. Here, we demonstrate that learning and memory deficits observed in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease can be ameliorated by enrichment. Female transgenic mice overexpressing amyloid precursor protein and/or presenilin-1 and nontransgenic controls were placed into enriched or standard cages at 2 months of age and tested for cognitive behavior after 6 months of differential housing. Enrichment significantly improved performance of all genotypes in the radial water maze and in the classic and repeated-reversal versions of the Morris water maze. However, enrichment did not benefit all genotypes equally. Mice overproducing amyloid-β (Aβ), particularly those with amyloid deposits, showed weaker memory for the platform location in the classic Morris water maze and learned new platform positions in the repeated-reversals task less quickly than their nontransgenic cagemates. Nonetheless, enrichment normalized the performance of Aβ-overproducing mice to the level of standard-housed nontransgenic mice. Moreover, this functional preservation occurred despite increased neuritic plaque burden in the hippocampus of double-transgenic animals and elevated steady-state Aβ levels, because both endogenous and transgene-derived Aβ are increased in enriched animals. These results demonstrate that the generation of Aβ in vivo and its impact on the function of the nervous system can be strongly modulated by environmental factors

Lactic Acid Induces Aberrant Amyloid Precursor Protein Processing by Promoting Its Interaction with Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone Proteins

Lactic acid, a natural by-product of glycolysis, is produced at excess levels in response to impaired mitochondrial function, high-energy demand, and low oxygen availability. The enzyme involved in the production of β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) of Alzheimer's disease, BACE1, functions optimally at lower pH, which led us to investigate a potential role of lactic acid in the processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP).Lactic acid increased levels of Aβ40 and 42, as measured by ELISA, in culture medium of human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y), whereas it decreased APP metabolites, such as sAPPα. In cell lysates, APP levels were increased and APP was found to interact with ER-chaperones in a perinuclear region, as determined by co-immunoprecipitation and fluorescence microscopy studies. Lactic acid had only a very modest effect on cellular pH, did increase the levels of ER chaperones Grp78 and Grp94 and led to APP aggregate formation reminiscent of aggresomes.These findings suggest that sustained elevations in lactic acid levels could be a risk factor in amyloidogenesis related to Alzheimer's disease through enhanced APP interaction with ER chaperone proteins and aberrant APP processing leading to increased generation of amyloid peptides and APP aggregates

Receptor-Associated Protein (RAP) Plays a Central Role in Modulating Aβ Deposition in APP/PS1 Transgenic Mice

BACKGROUND: Receptor associated protein (RAP) functions in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to assist in the maturation of several membrane receptor proteins, including low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP) and lipoprotein receptor 11 (SorLA/LR11). Previous studies in cell and mouse model systems have demonstrated that these proteins play roles in the metabolism of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), including processes involved in the generation, catabolism and deposition of beta-amyloid (Abeta) peptides. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Mice transgenic for mutant APPswe and mutant presenilin 1 (PS1dE9) were mated to mice with homozygous deletion of RAP. Unexpectedly, mice that were homozygous null for RAP and transgenic for APPswe/PS1dE9 showed high post-natal mortality, necessitating a shift in focus to examine the levels of amyloid deposition in APPswe/PS1dE9 that were hemizygous null for RAP. Immunoblot analysis confirmed 50% reductions in the levels of RAP with modest reductions in the levels of proteins dependent upon RAP for maturation [LRP trend towards a 20% reduction ; SorLA/LR11 statistically significant 15% reduction (p<0.05)]. Changes in the levels of these proteins in the brains of [APPswe/PS1dE9](+/-)/RAP(+/-) mice correlated with 30-40% increases in amyloid deposition by 9 months of age. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Partial reductions in the ER chaperone RAP enhance amyloid deposition in the APPswe/PS1dE9 model of Alzheimer amyloidosis. Partial reductions in RAP also affect the maturation of LRP and SorLA/LR11, which are each involved in several different aspects of APP processing and Abeta catabolism. Together, these findings suggest a central role for RAP in Alzheimer amyloidogenesis

Complement and the Alternative Pathway Play an Important Role in LPS/D-GalN-Induced Fulminant Hepatic Failure

Fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) is a clinically severe type of liver injury with an extremely high mortality rate. Although the pathological mechanisms of FHF are not well understood, evidence suggests that the complement system is involved in the pathogenesis of a variety of liver disorders. In the present study, to investigate the role of complement in FHF, we examined groups of mice following intraperitoneal injection of LPS/D-GalN: wild-type C57BL/6 mice, wild-type mice treated with a C3aR antagonist, C5aR monoclonal antibody (C5aRmAb) or CR2-Factor H (CR2-fH, an inhibitor of the alternative pathway), and C3 deficient mice (C3−/− mice). The animals were euthanized and samples analyzed at specific times after LPS/D-GalN injection. The results show that intraperitoneal administration of LPS/D-GalN activated the complement pathway, as evidenced by the hepatic deposition of C3 and C5b-9 and elevated serum levels of the complement activation product C3a, the level of which was associated with the severity of the liver damage. C3a receptor (C3aR) and C5a receptor (C5aR) expression was also upregulated. Compared with wild-type mice, C3−/− mice survived significantly longer and displayed reduced liver inflammation and attenuated pathological damage following LPS/D-GalN injection. Similar levels of protection were seen in mice treated with C3aR antagonist,C5aRmAb or CR2-fH. These data indicate an important role for the C3a and C5a generated by the alternative pathway in LPS/D-GalN-induced FHF. The data further suggest that complement inhibition may be an effective strategy for the adjunctive treatment of fulminant hepatic failure

Identification of Proteins Sensitive to Thermal Stress in Human Neuroblastoma and Glioma Cell Lines

<div><p>Heat-shock is an acute insult to the mammalian proteome. The sudden elevation in temperature has far-reaching effects on protein metabolism, leads to a rapid inhibition of most protein synthesis, and the induction of protein chaperones. Using heat-shock in cells of neuronal (SH-SY5Y) and glial (CCF-STTG1) lineage, in conjunction with detergent extraction and sedimentation followed by LC-MS/MS proteomic approaches, we sought to identify human proteins that lose solubility upon heat-shock. The two cell lines showed largely overlapping profiles of proteins detected by LC-MS/MS. We identified 58 proteins in detergent insoluble fractions as losing solubility in after heat shock; 10 were common between the 2 cell lines. A subset of the proteins identified by LC-MS/MS was validated by immunoblotting of similarly prepared fractions. Ultimately, we were able to definitively identify 3 proteins as putatively metastable neural proteins; FEN1, CDK1, and TDP-43. We also determined that after heat-shock these cells accumulate insoluble polyubiquitin chains largely linked via lysine 48 (K-48) residues. Collectively, this study identifies human neural proteins that lose solubility upon heat-shock. These proteins may represent components of the human proteome that are vulnerable to misfolding in settings of proteostasis stress.</p> </div