Lack of APP and APLP2 in GABAergic Forebrain Neurons Impairs Synaptic Plasticity and Cognition.

AbstractAmyloid-β precursor protein (APP) is central to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, yet its physiological functions remain incompletely understood. Previous studies had indicated important synaptic functions of APP and the closely related homologue APLP2 in excitatory forebrain neurons for spine density, synaptic plasticity, and behavior. Here, we show that APP is also widely expressed in several interneuron subtypes, both in hippocampus and cortex. To address the functional role of APP in inhibitory neurons, we generated mice with a conditional APP/APLP2 double knockout (cDKO) in GABAergic forebrain neurons using DlxCre mice. These DlxCre cDKO mice exhibit cognitive deficits i…

Loss of all three APP family members during development impairs synaptic function and plasticity, disrupts learning, and causes an autism-like phenotype.

The key role of APP for Alzheimer pathogenesis is well established. However, perinatal lethality of germline knockout mice lacking the entire APP family has so far precluded the analysis of its physiological functions for the developing and adult brain. Here, we generated conditional APP/APLP1/APLP2 triple KO (cTKO) mice lacking the APP family in excitatory forebrain neurons from embryonic day 11.5 onwards. NexCre cTKO mice showed altered brain morphology with agenesis of the corpus callosum and disrupted hippocampal lamination. Further, NexCre cTKOs revealed reduced basal synaptic transmission and drastically reduced long-term potentiation that was associated with reduced dendritic length …

Holo-APP and G-protein-mediated signaling are required for sAPPa-induced activation of the Akt survival pathway

International audience; Accumulating evidence indicates that loss of physiologic amyloid precursor protein (APP) function leads to reduced neuronal plasticity, diminished synaptic signaling and enhanced susceptibility of neurons to cellular stress during brain aging. Here we investigated the neuroprotective function of the soluble APP ectodomain sAPPa (soluble APPa), which is generated by cleavage of APP by a-secretase along the non-amyloidogenic pathway. Recombinant sAPPa protected primary hippocampal neurons and SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells from cell death induced by trophic factor deprivation. We show that this protective effect is abrogated in neurons from APP-knockout animals and APP-de…

A high-density SNP linkage scan with 142 combined subtype ADHD sib pairs identifies linkage regions on chromosomes 9 and 16

As part of the International Multi-centre ADHD Gene (IMAGE) project we have completed an affected sibling pair study of 142 narrowly defined DSM-IV combined type ADHD proband-sibling pairs. We found suggestive linkage on chromosomes 9 and 16 with non-parametric multipoint peak LOD scores of 2.13 and 3.1 respectively. There have been several previous ADHD linkage scans. The UCLA study (Fisher et al. 2002; Ogdie et al. 2004; Ogdie et al. 2003), the Dutch study (Bakker et al. 2003), the German study (Hebebrand et al. 2006) and the MGH Study (Faraone et al., submitted) applied the affected sib pair (ASP) strategy; the Columbian study used extended pedigrees ascertained from a population isolate…

Loss of γ-secretase function impairs endocytosis of lipoprotein particles and membrane cholesterol homeostasis