1. Lamotrigine attenuates deficits in synaptic plasticity and accumulation of amyloid plaques in APP/PS1 transgenic mice
- Author
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Ming-Ming Zou, Mao-Ying Zhang, Quan-Hong Ma, Ruxiang Xu, Jian-Wei Zhu, Shao Li, Jing Wang, Zhi-Cheng Xiao, Yan Zhang, Chuan-Yi Zheng, Chun-Feng Liu, and Qi-Fa Li
- Subjects
Genetically modified mouse ,Aging ,Amyloid beta ,Down-Regulation ,Mice, Transgenic ,Plaque, Amyloid ,Lamotrigine ,Presenilin ,Alzheimer Disease ,Memory ,mental disorders ,Nerve Growth Factor ,Amyloid precursor protein ,Medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Learning ,Amyloid beta-Peptides ,Neuronal Plasticity ,biology ,business.industry ,Triazines ,General Neuroscience ,Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ,Brain ,Up-Regulation ,Mice, Inbred C57BL ,Disease Models, Animal ,Nerve growth factor ,nervous system ,Synaptic plasticity ,biology.protein ,Synaptophysin ,Anticonvulsants ,Neurology (clinical) ,Geriatrics and Gerontology ,business ,Neuroscience ,Developmental Biology ,Neurotrophin - Abstract
Hyperactivity and its compensatory mechanisms may causally contribute to synaptic and cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Blocking the overexcitation of the neural network, with levetiracetam (LEV), a sodium channel blocker applied in the treatment of epilepsy, prevented synaptic and cognitive deficits in human amyloid precursor protein (APP) transgenic mice. This study has brought the potential use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in AD therapy. We showed that the chronic treatment with lamotrigine (LTG), a broad-spectrum AED, suppressed abnormal spike activity, prevented the loss of spines, synaptophysin immunoreactivity, and neurons, and thus attenuated the deficits in synaptic plasticity and learning and memory in APP and presenilin 1 (PS1) mice, which express human mutant APP and PS1. In contrast with LEV, which failed to reduce the generation of amyloid β, the chronic LTG treatment reduced the cleavage of APP by β-secretase and thus the numbers and the size of amyloid plaques in the brains of APP and PS1 mice. Moreover, the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic growth factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) were enhanced in the brains of APP and PS1 mice by the chronic LTG treatment. Therefore, these observations demonstrate that LTG attenuates AD pathology through multiple mechanisms, including modulation of abnormal network activity, reduction of the generation of amyloid beta and upregulation of BDNF and NGF.
- Published
- 2014