Cited by 135Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology ResearchDementia and Cognitive Impairment Research

Aβ mediates F-actin disassembly in dendritic spines leading to cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease

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Kommaddi, Reddy Peera, Das, Debajyoti, Karunakaran, Smitha, Nanguneri, Siddharth, Bapat, Deepti, Ray, Ajit, Shaw, Eisha, Bennett, David A. +2 more·2018·The Journal of Neuroscience

Abstract

Dendritic spine loss is recognized as an early feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Dendritic spine structure is defined by filamentous actin (F-actin) and we observed depolymerization of synaptosomal F-actin accompanied by increased globular-actin (G-actin) at as early as 1 month of age in a mouse model of AD (APPswe/PS1ΔE9, male mice). This led to recall deficit after contextual fear conditioning (cFC) at 2 months of age in APPswe/PS1ΔE9 male mice, which could be reversed by the actin-polymerizing agent jasplakinolide. Further, the F-actin-depolymerizing agent latrunculin induced recall deficit after cFC in WT mice, indicating the importance of maintaining F-/G-actin equilibrium for optimal behavioral response. Using direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM), we show that F-actin depolymerization in spines leads to a breakdown of the nano-organization of outwardly radiating F-actin rods in cortical neurons from APPswe/PS1ΔE9 mice. Our results demonstrate that synaptic dysfunction seen as F-actin disassembly occurs very early, before onset of pathological hallmarks in AD mice, and contributes to behavioral dysfunction, indicating that depolymerization of F-actin is causal and not consequent to decreased spine density. Further, we observed decreased synaptosomal F-actin levels in postmortem brain from mild cognitive impairment and AD patients compared with subjects with normal cognition. F-actin decrease correlated inversely with increasing AD pathology (Braak score, Aβ load, and tangle density) and directly with performance in episodic and working memory tasks, suggesting its role in human disease pathogenesis and progression. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Synaptic dysfunction underlies cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The cytoskeletal protein actin plays a critical role in maintaining structure and function of synapses. Using cultured neurons and an AD mouse model, we show for the first time that filamentous actin (F-actin) is lost selectively from synapses early in the disease process, long before the onset of classical AD pathology. We also demonstrate that loss of synaptic F-actin contributes directly to memory deficits. Loss of synaptosomal F-actin in human postmortem tissue correlates directly with decreased performance in memory test and inversely with AD pathology. Our data highlight that synaptic cytoarchitectural changes occur early in AD and they may be targeted for the development of therapeutics.

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Crossref · 10.1523/jneurosci.2127-17.2017

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Authors
Kommaddi, R. P., Das, D., Karunakaran, S., Nanguneri, S., Bapat, D., Ray, A., Shaw, E., Bennett, D. A., Nair, D., & Ravindranath, V.
Affiliations
  • Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IN)
  • Rush University Medical Center (US)
Corresponding author
Ravindranath, Vijayalakshmi
Venue
The Journal of Neuroscience
Published
2017-12-15
Volume
38
Issue
5
Pages
1085-1099
ISSN
  • 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-2401
OpenAlex
W2774657197
Cited by
135
References
71
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 6
FWCI
8.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • NOT FOUND REPOSITORY (Indian Institute of Science Bangalore) (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Tata Trusts
  • Science and Engineering Research Board (PDF/2016/003226)
  • National Institute on Aging (R01AG017917, R01AG015819, P30AG010161, RF1AG015819)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
Keywords
amyloid-beta, F-actin depolymerization, dendritic spines, actin cytoskeleton, synaptic dysfunction, APPswe/PS1ΔE9 mice, contextual fear conditioning, memory impairment, jasplakinolide, latrunculin, actin polymerization, postmortem brain, working memory
MeSH terms
Actins, Aging, Alzheimer Disease, Animals, Autopsy, Cognition Disorders, Conditioning, Classical, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Transgenic, Mental Recall, Synaptosomes, Amyloid beta-Peptides, Dendritic Spines, Actin Depolymerizing Factors, Mice, Cognitive Dysfunction, Primary Cell Culture

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