Pascale N. Lacor

Alzheimer's disease-affected brain: Presence of oligomeric Aβ ligands (ADDLs) suggests a molecular basis for reversible memory loss

A molecular basis for memory failure in Alzheimers disease (AD) has been recently hypothesized, in which a significant role is attributed to small, soluble oligomers of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ). Aβ oligomeric ligands (also known as ADDLs) are known to be potent inhibitors of hippocampal long-term potentiation, which is a paradigm for synaptic plasticity, and have been linked to synapse loss and reversible memory failure in transgenic mouse AD models. If such oligomers were to build up in human brain, their neurological impact could provide the missing link that accounts for the poor correlation between AD dementia and amyloid plaques. This article, using antibodies raised against synthetic Aβ oligomers, verifies the predicted accumulation of soluble oligomers in AD frontal cortex. Oligomers in AD reach levels up to 70-fold over control brains. Brain-derived and synthetic oligomers show structural equivalence with respect to mass, isoelectric point, and recognition by conformation-sensitive antibodies. Both oligomers, moreover, exhibit the same striking patterns of attachment to cultured hippocampal neurons, binding on dendrite surfaces in small clusters with ligand-like specificity. Binding assays using solubilized membranes show oligomers to be high-affinity ligands for a small number of nonabundant proteins. Current results confirm the prediction that soluble oligomeric Aβ ligands are intrinsic to AD pathology, and validate their use in new approaches to therapeutic AD drugs and vaccines.

Aβ Oligomer-Induced Aberrations in Synapse Composition, Shape, and Density Provide a Molecular Basis for Loss of Connectivity in Alzheimer's Disease

The basis for memory loss in early Alzheimers disease (AD) seems likely to involve synaptic damage caused by soluble Aβ-derived oligomers (ADDLs). ADDLs have been shown to build up in the brain and CSF of AD patients and are known to interfere with mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, acting as gain-of-function ligands that attach to synapses. Because of the correlation between AD dementia and synaptic degeneration, we investigated here the ability of ADDLs to affect synapse composition, structure, and abundance. Using highly differentiated cultures of hippocampal neurons, a preferred model for studies of synapse cell biology, we found that ADDLs bound to neurons with specificity, attaching to presumed excitatory pyramidal neurons but not GABAergic neurons. Fractionation of ADDLs bound to forebrain synaptosomes showed association with postsynaptic density complexes containing NMDA receptors, consistent with observed attachment of ADDLs to dendritic spines. During binding to hippocampal neurons, ADDLs promoted a rapid decrease in membrane expression of memory-related receptors (NMDA and EphB2). Continued exposure resulted in abnormal spine morphology, with induction of long thin spines reminiscent of the morphology found in mental retardation, deafferentation, and prionoses. Ultimately, ADDLs caused a significant decrease in spine density. Synaptic deterioration, which was accompanied by decreased levels of the spine cytoskeletal protein drebrin, was blocked by the Alzheimers therapeutic drug Namenda. The observed disruption of dendritic spines links ADDLs to a major facet of AD pathology, providing strong evidence that ADDLs in AD brain cause neuropil damage believed to underlie dementia.

Synaptic Targeting by Alzheimer's-Related Amyloid β Oligomers

The cognitive hallmark of early Alzheimers disease (AD) is an extraordinary inability to form new memories. For many years, this dementia was attributed to nerve-cell death induced by deposits of fibrillar amyloid β (Aβ). A newer hypothesis has emerged, however, in which early memory loss is considered a synapse failure caused by soluble Aβ oligomers. Such oligomers rapidly block long-term potentiation, a classic experimental paradigm for synaptic plasticity, and they are strikingly elevated in AD brain tissue and transgenic-mouse AD models. The current work characterizes the manner in which Aβ oligomers attack neurons. Antibodies raised against synthetic oligomers applied to AD brain sections were found to give diffuse stain around neuronal cell bodies, suggestive of a dendritic pattern, whereas soluble brain extracts showed robust AD-dependent reactivity in dot immunoblots. Antigens in unfractionated AD extracts attached with specificity to cultured rat hippocampal neurons, binding within dendritic arbors at discrete puncta. Crude fractionation showed ligand size to be between 10 and 100 kDa. Synthetic Aβ oligomers of the same size gave identical punctate binding, which was highly selective for particular neurons. Image analysis by confocal double-label immunofluorescence established that >90% of the punctate oligomer binding sites colocalized with the synaptic marker PSD-95 (postsynaptic density protein 95). Synaptic binding was accompanied by ectopic induction of Arc, a synaptic immediate-early gene, the overexpression of which has been linked to dysfunctional learning. Results suggest the hypothesis that targeting and functional disruption of particular synapses by Aβ oligomers may provide a molecular basis for the specific loss of memory function in early AD.

Monoclonal antibodies that target pathological assemblies of Aβ

Amyloid beta (Aβ) immunotherapy for Alzheimers disease has shown initial success in mouse models of Alzheimers disease and in human patients. However, because of meningoencephalitis in clinical trials of active vaccination, approaches using therapeutic antibodies may be preferred. As a novel antigen to generate monoclonal antibodies, the current study has used Aβ oligomers (amyloid β‐derived diffusible ligands, ADDLs), pathological assemblies known to accumulate in Alzheimers disease brain. Clones were selected for the ability to discriminate Alzheimers disease from control brains in extracts and tissue sections. These antibodies recognized Aβ oligomers and fibrils but not the physiologically prevalent Aβ monomer. Discrimination derived from an epitope found in assemblies of Aβ1–28 and ADDLs but not in other sequences, including Aβ1–40. Immunoneutralization experiments showed that toxicity and attachment of ADDLs to synapses in culture could be prevented. ADDL‐induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was also inhibited, establishing this response to be oligomer‐dependent. Inhibition occurred whether ADDLs were prepared in vitro or obtained from Alzheimers disease brain. As conformationally sensitive monoclonal antibodies that selectively immunoneutralize binding and function of pathological Aβ assemblies, these antibodies provide tools by which pathological Aβ assemblies from Alzheimers disease brain might be isolated and evaluated, as well as offering a valuable prototype for new antibodies useful for Alzheimers disease therapeutics.

Alzheimer's disease-type neuronal tau hyperphosphorylation induced by Aβ oligomers

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by presence of extracellular fibrillar Aβ in amyloid plaques, intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles consisting of aggregated hyperphosphorylated tau and elevated brain levels of soluble Aβ oligomers (ADDLs). A major question is how these disparate facets of AD pathology are mechanistically related. Here we show that, independent of the presence of fibrils, ADDLs stimulate tau phosphorylation in mature cultures of hippocampal neurons and in neuroblastoma cells at epitopes characteristically hyperphosphorylated in AD. A monoclonal antibody that targets ADDLs blocked their attachment to synaptic binding sites and prevented tau hyperphosphorylation. Tau phosphorylation was blocked by the Src family tyrosine kinase inhibitor, 4-amino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-7(t-butyl)pyrazol(3,4-D)pyramide (PP1), and by the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase inhibitor LY294002. Significantly, tau hyperphosphorylation was also induced by a soluble aqueous extract containing Aβ oligomers from AD brains, but not by an extract from non-AD brains. Aβ oligomers have been increasingly implicated as the main neurotoxins in AD, and the current results provide a unifying mechanism in which oligomer activity is directly linked to tau hyperphosphorylation in AD pathology.

Deleterious Effects of Amyloid β Oligomers Acting as an Extracellular Scaffold for mGluR5

Soluble oligomers of amyloid beta (Abeta) play a role in the memory impairment characteristic of Alzheimers disease. Acting as pathogenic ligands, Abeta oligomers bind to particular synapses and perturb their function, morphology, and maintenance. Events that occur shortly after oligomer binding have been investigated here in live hippocampal neurons by single particle tracking of quantum dot-labeled oligomers and synaptic proteins. Membrane-attached oligomers initially move freely, but their diffusion is hindered markedly upon accumulation at synapses. Concomitantly, individual metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR5) manifest strikingly reduced lateral diffusion as they become aberrantly clustered. This clustering of mGluR5 elevates intracellular calcium and causes synapse deterioration, responses prevented by an mGluR5 antagonist. As expected, clustering by artificial crosslinking also promotes synaptotoxicity. These results reveal a mechanism whereby Abeta oligomers induce the abnormal accumulation and overstabilization of a glutamate receptor, thus providing a mechanistic and molecular basis for Abeta oligomer-induced early synaptic failure.

Insulin Receptor Dysfunction Impairs Cellular Clearance of Neurotoxic Oligomeric Aβ

Accumulation of amyloid β (Aβ) oligomers in the brain is toxic to synapses and may play an important role in memory loss in Alzheimer disease. However, how these toxins are built up in the brain is not understood. In this study we investigate whether impairments of insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) receptors play a role in aggregation of Aβ. Using primary neuronal culture and immortal cell line models, we show that expression of normal insulin or IGF-1 receptors confers cells with abilities to reduce exogenously applied Aβ oligomers (also known as ADDLs) to monomers. In contrast, transfection of malfunctioning human insulin receptor mutants, identified originally from patient with insulin resistance syndrome, or inhibition of insulin and IGF-1 receptors via pharmacological reagents increases ADDL levels by exacerbating their aggregation. In healthy cells, activation of insulin and IGF-1 receptor reduces the extracellular ADDLs applied to cells via seemingly the insulin-degrading enzyme activity. Although insulin triggers ADDL internalization, IGF-1 appears to keep ADDLs on the cell surface. Nevertheless, both insulin and IGF-1 reduce ADDL binding, protect synapses from ADDL synaptotoxic effects, and prevent the ADDL-induced surface insulin receptor loss. Our results suggest that dysfunctions of brain insulin and IGF-1 receptors contribute to Aβ aggregation and subsequent synaptic loss.

Stimulation of Neurogenesis and Synaptogenesis by Bilobalide and Quercetin via Common Final Pathway in Hippocampal Neurons

Loss of synapses has been correlated with dementia in Alzheimers disease (AD) as an early event during the disease progression. Hence, synaptogenesis and neurogenesis in adulthood could serve as a therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of AD. Recently, we have demonstrated enhanced hippocampal neurogenesis by oral administration of Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb 761) to a mouse model of AD. This study aims to identify the constituents that contribute to EGb 761-induced neurogenesis. Among the constituents tested, bilobalide and quercetin significantly increased cell proliferation in the hippocampal neurons in a dose-dependent manner. Bilobalide and quercetin also enhanced phosphorylation of cyclic-AMP Response Element Binding Protein (CREB) in these cells, and elevated the levels of pCREB and, brain-derived neurotrophic factor in mice brain. Immunofluorescence staining of synaptic markers shows remarkable dendritic processes in hippocampal neurons treated with either quercetin or bilobalide. Furthermore, both constituents restored amyloid-beta oligomers (also known as ADDL)-induced synaptic loss and phosphorylation of CREB. The present findings suggest that enhanced neurogenesis and synaptogenesis by bilobalide and quercetin may share a common final signaling pathway mediated by phosphorylation of CREB. Despite a recent report showing that EGb 761 was insufficient in prevent dementia, its constituents still warrant future investigation.

Aβ oligomer-induced synapse degeneration in Alzheimer's disease.

Aβ oligomers cause a collection of molecular events associated with memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease, centering on disrupting the maintenance of synapse structure and function. In this brief review of the synaptotoxic effects of Aβ oligomers, we focus on the neuronal properties governing oligomer targeting and toxicity—especially with respect to binding sites and mechanisms of binding. We also discuss ways in which mechanistic insights from other diseases offer clues in the pursuit of the molecular basis of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer's-associated Aβ oligomers show altered structure, immunoreactivity and synaptotoxicity with low doses of oleocanthal

It now appears likely that soluble oligomers of amyloid-beta1-42 peptide, rather than insoluble fibrils, act as the primary neurotoxin in Alzheimers disease (AD). Consequently, compounds capable of altering the assembly state of these oligomers (referred to as ADDLs) may have potential for AD therapeutics. Phenolic compounds are of particular interest for their ability to disrupt Abeta oligomerization and reduce pathogenicity. This study has focused on oleocanthal (OC), a naturally-occurring phenolic compound found in extra-virgin olive oil. OC increased the immunoreactivity of soluble Abeta species, when assayed with both sequence- and conformation-specific Abeta antibodies, indicating changes in oligomer structure. Analysis of oligomers in the presence of OC showed an upward shift in MW and a ladder-like distribution of SDS-stable ADDL subspecies. In comparison with control ADDLs, oligomers formed in the presence of OC (Abeta-OC) showed equivalent colocalization at synapses but exhibited greater immunofluorescence as a result of increased antibody recognition. The enhanced signal at synapses was not due to increased synaptic binding, as direct detection of fluorescently-labeled ADDLs showed an overall reduction in ADDL signal in the presence of OC. Decreased binding to synapses was accompanied by significantly less synaptic deterioration assayed by drebrin loss. Additionally, treatment with OC improved antibody clearance of ADDLs. These results indicate oleocanthal is capable of altering the oligomerization state of ADDLs while protecting neurons from the synaptopathological effects of ADDLs and suggest OC as a lead compound for development in AD therapeutics.