title: The amyloid pathology progresses in a neurotransmitter-specific manner.
abstract: Past studies using transgenic models of early-staged amyloid pathology, have suggested that the amyloid pathology progresses in a neurotransmitter-specific manner where cholinergic terminals appear most vulnerable, followed by glutamatergic terminals and finally by somewhat more resistant GABAergic terminals. To determine whether this neurotransmitter-specific progression persists at later pathological stages, presynaptic bouton densities, and the areas of occupation and localization of plaque adjacent dystrophic neurites were quantified in 18-month-old APP(K670N, M671L)+PS1(M146L) doubly transgenic mice. Quantification revealed that transgenic animals had significantly lower cholinergic, glutamatergic and GABAergic presynaptic bouton densities. Cholinergic and glutamatergic dystrophic neurites appear to be heavily influenced by fibrillar Abeta as both types displayed a decreasing area of occupation with respect to increasing plaque size. Furthermore, cholinergic dystrophic neurites reside in closer proximity to plaques than glutamatergic dystrophic neurites, while GABAergic dystrophic neurites were minimal regardless of plaque size. To investigate whether similarities exist in the human AD pathology, a monoclonal antibody (McKA1) against the human vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGluT1) was developed. Subsequent staining in AD brain tissue revealed the novel presence of glutamatergic dystrophic neurites, to our knowledge the first evidence of a structural glutamatergic deficit in the AD pathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, McGill University, 3655 Sir William Osler Promenade, Montreal, Que., Canada, H3G 1Y6.
authors.forename: Karen F S
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ducatenzeiler
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ribeiro-da-Silva
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Duff
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: A Claudio
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Cuello
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000378:metabolism*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D016501:Neurites / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D017729:Presynaptic Terminals; D051381:Rats; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D000109:Acetylcholine