Cited by 987Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsTelomeres, Telomerase, and SenescenceNeuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms

Senolytic therapy alleviates Aβ-associated oligodendrocyte progenitor cell senescence and cognitive deficits in an Alzheimer’s disease model

Open access
Zhang, Peisu, Kishimoto, Yuki, Grammatikakis, Ioannis, Gottimukkala, Kamalvishnu, Cutler, Roy G., Zhang, Shiliang, Abdelmohsen, Kotb, Bohr, Vilhelm A. +3 more·2019·Nature Neuroscience

Abstract

Neuritic plaques, a pathological hallmark in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains, comprise extracellular aggregates of amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptide and degenerating neurites that accumulate autolysosomes. We found that, in the brains of patients with AD and in AD mouse models, Aβ plaque-associated Olig2- and NG2-expressing oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), but not astrocytes, microglia, or oligodendrocytes, exhibit a senescence-like phenotype characterized by the upregulation of p21/CDKN1A, p16/INK4/CDKN2A proteins, and senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity. Molecular interrogation of the Aβ plaque environment revealed elevated levels of transcripts encoding proteins involved in OPC function, replicative senescence, and inflammation. Direct exposure of cultured OPCs to aggregating Aβ triggered cell senescence. Senolytic treatment of AD mice selectively removed senescent cells from the plaque environment, reduced neuroinflammation, lessened Aβ load, and ameliorated cognitive deficits. Our findings suggest a role for Aβ-induced OPC cell senescence in neuroinflammation and cognitive deficits in AD, and a potential therapeutic benefit of senolytic treatments.

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Crossref · 10.1038/s41593-019-0372-9

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  • In preclinical studies, co-administration of Dasatinib and Quercetin improved aspects of physical function and cognition.

    “In preclinical studies, co-administration of Dasatinib and Quercetin (DQ) improved aspects related to physical function (e.g., endurance and speed) and cognition (e.g., reduced neurofibrillary tangle density/neuron loss).7,15,24”

    From A pilot study of senolytics to improve cognition and mobility in older adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease (2025) · cites this paper as [15]

    The Results (page not provided) report that dasatinib plus quercetin improved Y-maze and water-maze performance in APP/PS1 Alzheimer’s-model mice, supporting the cognition portion. The paper does not report improved endurance or speed, or reduced neurofibrillary tangle density or neuron loss; its reported pathology improvement concerns Aβ plaques. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • In mice, removing senescent cells genetically or pharmacologically improves function in models of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

    “Importantly, clearance of Sncs either genetically or pharmacologically in mice leads to functional improvements in models of neurodegenerative diseases such as PD and AD (57–59).”

    From Senolytic Drugs: Reducing Senescent Cell Viability to Extend Health Span (2021) · cites this paper as [59]

    The Results and Discussion (page not available in our copy) report that pharmacological senolytic treatment removed senescent cells and improved learning and memory in APP/PS1 Alzheimer’s-model mice. The Discussion also describes genetic clearance in other AD studies, but this paper does not report functional improvement after senescent-cell clearance in a Parkinson’s model, so it supports only part of the sentence attributed to the citation group. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Senescence has been observed in neurons, astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes, and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells.

    “Senescence has been observed in neurons, astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes, and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (57–59).”

    From Senolytic Drugs: Reducing Senescent Cell Viability to Extend Health Span (2021) · cites this paper as [59]

    The Results (page unavailable) document senescent oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, and the Discussion (page unavailable) reports evidence of astrocyte and microglial senescence in other studies of tau-mutant mice. The paper does not establish senescence in mature oligodendrocytes or neurons; it cautions that neuronal SA-βGal staining can occur without other senescence phenotypes. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The INK-ATTAC and p16-3MR mouse models have substantially advanced knowledge about whether senescent cells contribute to ageing and age-related diseases in model organisms, covering conditions such as Parkinson disease, Alzheimer disease, atherosclerosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and osteoarthritis.

    “These two mouse models have greatly accelerated our understanding of whether senescent cells contribute to ageing and age-related diseases, at least in model organisms, for numerous diseases, including Parkinson disease196, Alzheimer disease197,198, atherosclerosis175, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis199, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease200 and osteoarthritis201.”

    From Cellular senescence in ageing: from mechanisms to therapeutic opportunities (2021) · cites this paper as [198]

    The Discussion reports that removing senescent cells with senolytic treatment improved learning and memory in APP/PS1 Alzheimer’s disease mice, supporting the Alzheimer’s disease portion of the cited sentence. But the Methods describe a p16-ZsGreen reporter rather than INK-ATTAC or p16-3MR, and the Discussion proposes testing selective genetic elimination in Alzheimer’s disease mice as future work. This source therefore does not show that those two mouse models produced the Alzheimer’s disease finding attributed to it. (LLM, conf=0.89)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Previous studies have highlighted senescence in multiple brain cell types in AD.

    “Previous studies have highlighted senescence in multiple brain cell types in AD [3, 16, 32, 52, 80].”

    From Characterisation of premature cell senescence in Alzheimer's disease using single nuclear transcriptomics (2024) · cites this paper as [80]

    The Abstract reports senescence-like changes in oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) in patients with AD and AD mouse models. It explicitly says plaque-associated astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes did not show that phenotype; the Discussion places reports of astrocyte and microglial senescence in frontotemporal dementia models, not AD. Thus this source supports senescence in one brain cell type in AD, not multiple types. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Authors
Zhang, P., Kishimoto, Y., Grammatikakis, I., Gottimukkala, K., Cutler, R. G., Zhang, S., Abdelmohsen, K., Bohr, V. A., Misra Sen, J., Gorospe, M., & Mattson, M. P.
Affiliations
National Institutes of Health (US)
Corresponding author
  • Zhang, Peisu
  • Mattson, Mark P.
Venue
Nature Neuroscience
Published
2019-04-01
Volume
22
Issue
5
Pages
719-728
ISSN
  • 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-1726
OpenAlex
W2928157366
Cited by
977
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 109 · 2025: 157 · 2024: 168 · 2023: 135 · 2022: 133 · 2021: 131 · 2020: 118 · 2019: 26
FWCI
69.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institutes of Health (Z99 AG999999)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
Keywords
senolytic therapy, Alzheimer's disease, amyloid-beta, oligodendrocyte precursor cells, cellular senescence, neuroinflammation, cognitive impairment, senescent cell clearance, Olig2, NG2, replicative senescence, senescence-associated β-galactosidase, CDKN1A/p21, CDKN2A/p16, amyloid plaques
MeSH terms
Dasatinib, Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells, Alzheimer Disease, Animals, Disease Models, Animal, Female, Male, Mice, Transgenic, Quercetin, Amyloid beta-Peptides, Prosencephalon, Cellular Senescence, Maze Learning, Plaque, Amyloid

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