Chronic allopregnanolone treatment accelerates Alzheimer's disease development in AβPP(Swe)PSEN1(ΔE9) mice

J Alzheimers Dis. 2012;31(1):71-84. doi: 10.3233/JAD-2012-120268.

Abstract

The endogenous neurosteroid allopregnanolone alters neuronal excitability via modulation of the GABAA receptor and causes decreased neurotransmission. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), neurotransmission seems to alter the levels of toxic intracellular amyloid-β (Aβ) oligomers, which are implicated in AD pathogenesis and cause cognitive decline. Inhibition of synaptic activity has been shown to increase levels of intracellular Aβ. Allopregnanolone at endogenous stress levels inhibits synaptic activity and could have similar effects. By using a transgenic AβPP(Swe)PSEN1(ΔE9) mouse model for AD, we observed that chronic allopregnanolone treatment for three months with stress levels of allopregnanolone impaired learning in the Morris water maze. The learning impairment was seen one month after the end of treatment. Chronic allopregnanolone treatment also led to increased levels of soluble Aβ in the brain, which could be a sign of advanced pathogenesis. Since the learning and memory of wild-type mice was not affected by the treatment, we propose that chronic allopregnanolone treatment accelerates the pathogenesis of AD. However, further studies are required in order to determine the underlying mechanism.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / drug therapy*
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology
  • Alzheimer Disease / physiopathology
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / metabolism
  • Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor / genetics
  • Animals
  • Antipsychotic Agents / metabolism
  • Antipsychotic Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Cerebral Cortex / drug effects
  • Cerebral Cortex / pathology
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Hippocampus / drug effects
  • Hippocampus / pathology
  • Humans
  • Maze Learning / drug effects
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Mutation / genetics
  • Pregnanolone / metabolism
  • Pregnanolone / therapeutic use*
  • Presenilin-1 / genetics
  • Statistics, Nonparametric
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor
  • Antipsychotic Agents
  • PSEN1 protein, human
  • Presenilin-1
  • Pregnanolone