title: Hypercholesterolemia accelerates intraneuronal accumulation of Aβ oligomers resulting in memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease model mice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hypercholesterolemia is known to be a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD), and diet-induced hypercholesterolemia has been shown to accelerate amyloid pathology in animals. While growing evidence has shown that synaptic and cognitive dysfunction in AD is associated with intraneuronal accumulation of Aβ, the relationships between hypercholesterolemia, memory impairment, and intraneuronal Aβ remains unclear. The present study aims to clarify this association.
  
  
  METHODS
  Transgenic mice expressing amyloid precursor protein (APP) harboring the Osaka (E693∆) mutation (APP(OSK)-Tg mice) were used. These mice exhibit intraneuronal Aβ oligomers and memory impairment from 8months of age. Five-month-old male APP(OSK)-Tg mice and non-Tg littermates were fed a high-cholesterol diet for 1 month to induce hypercholesterolemia. At 6 months of age, their cognitive function was evaluated by the Morris water maze. Intraneuronal Aβ, synaptic density, and tau phosphorylation were examined by immunohistochemistry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum and brain cholesterol levels were significantly higher in APP(OSK)-Tg mice and non-Tg littermates that were fed a high-cholesterol diet than in control mice that were fed normal chow, indicating that hypercholesterolemia was successfully induced. Hypercholesterolemic APP(OSK)-Tg mice, but not control APP(OSK)-Tg mice or hypercholesterolemic non-Tg littermates, exhibited impaired spatial reference memory, which was accompanied with intraneuronal accumulation of Aβ oligomers, reduced synaptophysin immunoreactivity, and abnormal tau phosphorylation in the hippocampus. Hypercholesterolemia-accelerated accumulation of intraneuronal Aβ oligomers was also observed in another model mouse, Tg2576.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that hypercholesterolemia accelerates intraneuronal accumulation of Aβ oligomers and subsequent synapse loss, resulting in memory impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahimachi, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Umeda
authors.forename: Takami
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomiyama
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kitajima
authors.forename: Toshiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Idomoto
authors.forename: Sachiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Mary P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: William L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D004036:Diet, Atherogenic; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D013569:Synapses / Q000473:pathology*; D016708:Synaptophysin / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor; D016708:Synaptophysin; D016875:tau Proteins; D002784:Cholesterol