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Enhancing mitochondrial one-carbon metabolism is neuroprotective in Alzheimer’s disease models
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of age-related dementia. In AD, the death of neurons in the central nervous system is associated with the accumulation of toxic amyloid β peptide (Aβ) and mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are signal transducers of metabolic and biochemical information, and their impairment can compromise cellular function. Mitochondria compartmentalise several pathways, including folate-dependent one-carbon (1C) metabolism and electron transport by respiratory complexes. Mitochondrial 1C metabolism is linked to electron transport through complex I of the respiratory chain. Here, we analysed the proteomic changes in a fly model of AD by overexpressing a toxic form of Aβ (Aβ-Arc). We found that expressing Aβ-Arc caused alterations in components of both complex I and mitochondrial 1C metabolism. Genetically enhancing mitochondrial 1C metabolism through Nmdmc improved mitochondrial function and was neuroprotective in fly models of AD. We also found that exogenous supplementation with the 1C donor folinic acid improved mitochondrial health in both mammalian cells and fly models of AD. We found that genetic variations in MTHFD2L, the human orthologue of Nmdmc, were linked to AD risk. Additionally, Mendelian randomisation showed that increased folate intake decreased the risk of developing AD. Overall, our data suggest enhancement of folate-dependent 1C metabolism as a viable strategy to delay the progression and attenuate the severity of AD.
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“Individually, three of the included studies found a non-statistically significant difference in overall PSQI score between the concussed and non-concussed participants [43,48,49].”
From Concussion Disrupts Sleep in Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [48]
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“the daytime dysfunction component of the PSQI was the most consistently reported altered component, even in cases where no overall difference in PSQI was found [48,49].”
From Concussion Disrupts Sleep in Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [48]
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“Three studies were drawn from an adolescent population aged 12–18 years, potentially introducing heterogeneity when compared to the student population [46,47,48].”
From Concussion Disrupts Sleep in Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [48]
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“Several long-term imaging studies have demonstrated structural changes in the brain in response to concussion, including altered neurite density in sleep-related white matter tracts [48,60].”
From Concussion Disrupts Sleep in Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [48]
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1 retracted
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Compartmentalization of Mammalian Folate-Mediated One-Carbon Metabolism
Tibbetts, A. S., & Appling, D. R. (2010) · Annual Review of Nutrition · doi:10.1146/annurev.nutr.012809.104810 · Cited by 692
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Widespread Changes in Synaptic Markers as a Function of Sleep and Wakefulness in Drosophila
Gilestro, G. F., Tononi, G., & Cirelli, C. (2009) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1166673 · Cited by 360
Using Mendelian Randomization to Improve the Design of Randomized Trials
Ference, B. A., Holmes, M. V., & Smith, G. D. (2021) · Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine · doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a040980 · Cited by 338
Molecular signatures underlying neurofibrillary tangle susceptibility in Alzheimer’s disease
Otero-Garcia, M., Mahajani, S. U., Wakhloo, D., Tang, W., Xue, Y.-Q., Morabito, S., Pan, J., Oberhauser, J., Madira, A. E., Shakouri, T., et al. (2022) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2022.06.021 · Cited by 262
One-Carbon Metabolism: Pulling the Strings behind Aging and Neurodegeneration
Lionaki, E., Ploumi, C., & Tavernarakis, N. (2022) · Cells · doi:10.3390/cells11020214 · Cited by 110
Parp mutations protect from mitochondrial toxicity in Alzheimer’s disease
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Cited by
Concussion Disrupts Sleep in Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Noordeen, S., Wang, P., Strazda, A. E., Arany, E. S., Ergisi, M., Yeo, L. J., Popovic, R., Mahendran, A., Khawaja, M., Grover, K., et al. (2025) · Clocks & Sleep · doi:10.3390/clockssleep7030046 · Cited by 2
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Yu, Y., Chen, C. Z., Celardo, I., Tan, B. W. Z., Hurcomb, J. D., Leal, N. S., Popovic, R., Loh, S. H. Y., & Martins, L. M.
- Venue
- Cell Death & Disease
- Published
- 2024-11-24
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 11
- ISSN
- 2041-4889
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 13
- Language
- en
- Licence
- creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 (tdm)
- creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 (vor)
- Funders
- RCUK | Medical Research Council (RG94521)
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