Browsing by Subject "Alzheimers Disease"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Neurodegeneration Risk Factor TREM2 R47H Mutation Causes Distinct Sex- and Age- Dependent Musculoskeletal Phenotype
    (2022-05) Essex, Alyson Lola; Plotkin, Lillian I.; Bonetto, Andrea; Allen, Matthew; Landreth, Gary E.
    Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells 2 (TREM2), a receptor expressed in myeloid cells including microglia in brain and osteoclasts in bone has been proposed as a link between brain and bone disease. Previous studies identified an AD-associated mutation (R47H) which is known to confer an increased risk for developing AD. In these studies, we used a heterozygous model of the TREM2 R47H variant (TREM2R47H/+), which does not exhibit cognitive defects, as a translational model of genetic risk factors that contribute to AD, and investigated whether alterations to TREM2 signaling could also contribute to bone and skeletal muscle loss, independently of central nervous system defects. Our study found that female TREM2R47H/+ animals experience bone loss in the femoral mid-diaphysis between 4 and 13 months of age as measured by microCT, which stalls out by 20 months of age. Female TREM2R47H/+ animals also experience significant decreases in the mechanical and material properties of the femur measured by three-point bending at 13 months of age, but not at 4 or 20 months. Interestingly, male TREM2R47H/+ animals do not demonstrate any discernable differences in bone geometry or strength until 20 months of age, where we observed slight changes in the bone volume and material properties of male TREM2R47H/+ bones. Ex vivo osteoclast differentiation assays demonstrate that only male TREM2R47H/+ osteoclasts differentiate more after 7 days with osteoclast differentiation factors compared to WT, but qPCR follow-up showed sexdependent differences in intracellular signaling. However, bone is not the only musculoskeletal tissue affected by the TREM2 R47H variant. Skeletal muscle strength measured by both in vivo plantar flexion and ex vivo contractility of the soleus is increased and body composition is altered in female TREM2R47H/+ mice compared to WT, and this is not likely due to bone-muscle crosstalk. These studies suggests that TREM2 R47H expression in the bone and skeletal muscle are likely impacting each tissue independently. These data demonstrate that AD-associated variants in TREM2 can alter bone and skeletal muscle strength in a sex-dimorphic manner independent of the presence of central neuropathology.
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    The Neuroinflammatory Response Associated to Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy (CAA)
    (2021-12) Taylor, Xavier Nathaniel; Kim, Jungsu; Landreth, Gary; Oblak, Adrian; Vidal, Ruben; Lasagna-Reeves, Cristian
    Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is characterized by the cerebrovascular deposition of amyloid. The mechanisms underlying the contribution of CAA to neurodegeneration are not fully understood. In this dissertation, there are three main chapters. The first chapter investigates existing evidence regarding the amyloid diversity in CAA and its relation to tau pathology and immune response, as well as the possible contribution of molecular and cellular mechanisms, previously associated with parenchymal amyloid in Alzheimer disease (AD) and AD-related dementias, to the pathogenesis of CAA. The second chapter demonstrates differential glial reactivity and activation associated with early-stage CAA in a mouse model of Familial Danish Dementia (FDD), a neurodegenerative disease characterized by vascular accumulation of Danish amyloid (ADan). We show that early-stage CAA is associated with dysregulation in immune response networks and lipid processing, severe astrogliosis with a neurotoxic A1-astrocytic phenotype, characterized by increased expression of Complement Component 3 (C3), and decreased levels of Triggering Receptor Expressed On Myeloid Cells 2 (Trem2) with no significant reactive microgliosis. Our results also indicate how cholesterol accumulation and Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) are associated with vascular amyloid deposits at the early stages of pathology. Furthermore, we demonstrate A1 astrocytic mediation of Trem2 and microglia homeostasis. In the final chapter, we addressed whether inflammatory stimulus of other cell types are capable of inducing a subtype of neurotoxic astrocytes. Here we show a subtype of C3+ neurotoxic astrocyte are induced by activated endothelial cells that is distinct from astrocytes classically activated by microglia. We show that endothelial activated astrocytes have upregulated expression of A1-astrocytic genes and exhibit a distinctive extracellular matrix remodeling profile. Finally, we demonstrate that endothelial activated astrocytes are Decorin-positive and are associated to vascular amyloid deposits but not parenchymal amyloid plaques in mouse models and AD/CAA patients. These findings show the existence of potentially extensive and subtle functional diversity of C3+-reactive astrocytes.