Galanin fiber hyperinnervation preserves neuroprotective gene expression in cholinergic basal forebrain neurons in Alzheimer's disease
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Fibers containing galanin (GAL) hyperinnervate cholinergic basal forebrain (CBF) nucleus basalis neurons in late stage Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet the molecular consequences of this phenomenon are unknown. To determine whether GAL alters the expression of genes critical to CBF cell survival in AD, single cell microarray analysis was used to determine mRNA levels within nucleus basalis neurons lacking GAL innervation from subjects who died with a clinical diagnosis of no cognitive impairment (NCI) compared to nucleus basalis neurons from AD cases either lacking GAL hyperinnervation (AD/GAL-) or those displaying prominent GAL hyperinnervation (AD/GAL+). Levels of mRNAs encoding putatively neuroprotective proteins such as the GluR2 Ca(2)-impermeable glutamate receptor subunit, superoxide dismutase 2, and the GLUT2 glucose transporter were significantly decreased in AD/GAL- nucleus basalis neurons compared to NCI and AD/GAL+ neurons. By contrast, mRNAs encoding calpain catalytic and regulatory subunits, which may contribute to cell death in AD, were increased in AD/GAL- compared to NCI and AD/GAL+ neurons. Hence, GAL fiber hyperinnervation appears to preserve the expression of genes subserving multiple neuroprotective pathways suggesting that GAL overexpression regulates CBF neuron survival in AD.
Medical Subject Headings
Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alzheimer Disease (metabolism); Cholinergic Fibers (physiology); Cognition Disorders (metabolism); Galanin (physiology); Gene Expression Regulation; Humans; Microarray Analysis; Prosencephalon (metabolism); RNA, Messenger (metabolism)
Publication Date
1-1-2009
Publication Title
Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD
E-ISSN
1875-8908
Volume
18
Issue
4
First Page
885
Last Page
96
PubMed ID
19749437
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.3233/JAD-2009-1196
Recommended Citation
Counts, Scott E.; He, Bin; Che, Shaoli; Ginsberg, Stephen D.; and Mufson, Elliott J., "Galanin fiber hyperinnervation preserves neuroprotective gene expression in cholinergic basal forebrain neurons in Alzheimer's disease" (2009). Translational Neuroscience. 1813.
https://scholar.barrowneuro.org/neurobiology/1813