title: The acetylcholine innervation of cerebral cortex: new data on its normal development and its fate in the hAPP(SW,IND) mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: To follow on prior studies of the cerebral cortex, we examined the acetylcholine innervation in the developing hippocampus of rat, by means of light and electron microscopic immunocytochemistry with a highly sensitive antibody against choline acetyltransferease. As in neocortex, the growth of this innervation mostly occurred within the first two weeks after birth. A preliminary ultrastructural survey indicated that a vast majority of these ChAT-immunostained axon varicosities were asynaptic during development as in the adult. In parallel, we quantified the cholinergic innervations of cerebral cortex and hippocampus in transgenic mice overexpressing human beta-amyloid peptide (hAPP(SW,IND)). A selective, widespread, plaque independent cholinergic denervation was thus demonstrated, first in hippocampus and then neocortex, in addition to a non-selective, plaque-dependent, local neurotoxic effect of aggregated beta-amyloid on ACh and 5-HT axons.
authors.affiliation: Département de pathologie et biologie cellulaire, Faculté de médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada. laurent.descarries@umontreal.ca
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Descarries
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aznavour
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hamel
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002799:Cholinergic Fibers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D000109:Acetylcholine