Department
neurobiology
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Background: β-amyloid (Aβ) accumulation is described as a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Aβ perturbs a number of synaptic components including nicotinic acetylcholine receptors containing α7 subunits (α7-nAChRs), which are abundantly expressed in the hippocampus and found on GABAergic interneurons. We have previously demonstrated the existence of a novel, heteromeric α7β2-nAChR in basal forebrain cholinergic neurons that exhibits high sensitivity to acute Aβ exposure. To extend our previous work, we evaluated the expression and pharmacology of α7β2-nAChRs in hippocampal interneurons and their sensitivity to Aβ.Results: GABAergic interneurons in the CA1 subregion of the hippocampus expressed functional α7β2-nAChRs, which were characterized by relatively slow whole-cell current kinetics, pharmacological sensitivity to dihydro-β-erythroidine (DHβE), a nAChR β2* subunit selective blocker, and α7 and β2 subunit interaction using immunoprecipitation assay. In addition, α7β2-nAChRs were sensitive to 1 nM oligomeric Aβ. Similar effects were observed in identified hippocampal interneurons prepared from GFP-GAD mice.Conclusion: These findings suggest that Aβ modulation of cholinergic signaling in hippocampal GABAergic interneurons via α7β2-nAChRs could be an early and critical event in Aβ-induced functional abnormalities of hippocampal function, which may be relevant to learning and memory deficits in AD. © 2012 Liu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Publication Date
12-29-2012
Publication Title
BMC Neuroscience
ISSN
14712202
Volume
13
Issue
1
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1186/1471-2202-13-155
Recommended Citation
Liu, Qiang; Huang, Yao; Shen, Jianxin; Steffensen, Scott; and Wu, Jie, "Functional α7β2 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Expressed In Hippocampal Interneurons Exhibit High Sensitivity To Pathological Level Of Amyloid β Peptides" (2012). Translational Neuroscience. 143.
https://scholar.barrowneuro.org/neurobiology/143