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Mushroom spine loss and calcium dyshomeostasis are early hallmark events of age-related neurodegeneration, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), that are connected with neuronal hyperactivity in early pathology of cognitive brain areas. However, it remains elusive how these key events are triggered at the molecular level for the neuronal abnormality that occurs at the initial stage of disease. Here, we identify downregulated miR-339-5p and its upregulated target protein, neuronatin (Nnat), in cortex neurons from the presenilin-1 M146V knockin (PSEN1-M146VKI) mouse model of familial AD (FAD). Inhibition of miR-339-5p or overexpression of Nnat recapitulates spine loss and endoplasmic reticulum calcium overload in cortical neurons with the PSEN1 mutation. Conversely, either overexpression of miR-339-5p or knockdown of Nnat restores spine morphogenesis and calcium homeostasis. We used fiber photometry recording during the object-cognitive process to further demonstrate that the PSEN1 mutant causes defective habituation in neuronal reaction in the retrosplenial cortex and that this can be rescued by restoring the miR-339-5p/Nnat pathway. Our findings thus reveal crucial roles of the miR-339-5p/Nnat pathway in FAD that may serve as potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets for early pathogenesis., Introduction Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most prevalent age-related neurodegenerative disorders and is characterized by progressive memory impairment and cognitive deficits, often manifested pathologically by the deposition of [...]

Vast numbers of differentially expressed genes and perturbed networks have been identified in Alzheimer's disease (AD), however, neither disease nor brain region specificity of these transcriptome alterations has been explored. Using RNA- Seq data from 231 temporal cortex and 224 cerebellum samples from patients with AD and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a tauopathy, we identified a striking correlation in the directionality and magnitude of gene expression changes between these 2 neurodegenerative proteinopathies. Further, the transcriptomic changes in AD and PSP brains ware highly conserved between the temporal and cerebellar cortices, indicating that highly similar transcriptional changes occur in pathologically affected and grossly less affected, albeit functionally connected, areas of the brain. Shared up- or downregulated genes in AD and PSP are enriched in biological pathways. Many of these genes also have concordant protein changes and evidence of epigenetic control. These conserved transcriptomic alterations of 2 distinct proteinopathies in brain regions with and without significant gross neuropathology have broad implications. AD and other neurodegenerative diseases are likely characterized by common disease or compensatory pathways with widespread perturbations in the whole brain. These findings can be leveraged to develop multifaceted therapies and biomarkers that address these common, complex, and ubiquitous molecular alterations in neurodegenerative diseases., Introduction Neurodegenerative proteinopathies such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) are characterized by the aggregation and accumulation of self-proteins within insoluble aggregates (1). AD is a complex [...]

Alzheimer disease is the most prevalent form of dementia globally and is characterized premortem by a gradual memory loss and deterioration of higher cognitive functions and postmortem by neuritic plaques containing amyloid β peptide and neurofibrillary tangles containing phospho-tau protein. Glutamate is the most abundant neurotransmitter in the brain and is essential to memory formation through processes such as long-term potentiation and so might be pivotal to Alzheimer disease progression. This review discusses how the glutamatergic system is impaired in Alzheimer disease and how interactions of amyloid β and glutamate influence synaptic function, tau phosphorylation and neurodegeneration. Interestingly, glutamate not only influences amyloid β production, but also amyloid β can alter the levels of glutamate at the synapse, indicating that small changes in the concentrations of both molecules could influence Alzheimer disease progression. Finally, we describe how the glutamate receptor antagonist, memantine, has been used in the treatment of individuals with Alzheimer disease and discuss its effectiveness., Introduction In 2005 there were an estimated 24.3 million individuals with dementia worldwide, with Alzheimer disease accounting for more than 60% of these cases. (1) The etiology of Alzheimer disease [...]

Truncation of tau contributes to the formation of neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer's disease. A new study finds a direct role for a lysosomal cysteine protease, asparagine endopeptidase, in cleaving tau into neurotoxic fragments., Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, afflicting up to half of the population over the age of 85. AD has a complex etiology and is characterized [...]

Inflammatory cues trigger microglial cells to release the protein ASC. It emerges that specks of ASC promote a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease in the brains of mice -- aggregation and deposition of amyloid-[beta] protein. Inflammatory cues trigger microglial cells to release the protein ASC. It emerges that specks of ASC promote a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease in the brains of mice -- aggregation and deposition of amyloid-[beta] protein., Author(s): Richard M. Ransohoff Author Affiliations: Specks of insight into Alzheimer's disease From one perspective, Alzheimer's disease can be considered to be relatively simple: it requires the formation of aggregated [...]

Author(s): Liviu Aron [1]; Bruce A. Yankner (corresponding author) [1] An intriguing feature of the brain is its generation of electrical oscillations through the synchronized activity of networks of neurons. [...]

A test that exploits the abnormal stickiness of misfolded proteins could one day be used to diagnose Alzheimer's disease, reports a team led by Claudio Soto at the University of [...]