Identification of amyloid beta oligomers in locus coeruleus (LC) neurons of Alzheimer’s patients and their impact on LC oxidative stress, inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors and neuronal excitability

Abstract

AbstractAmyloid β oligomers (AβO) are potent modulators of two key Alzheimer’s pathological processes, namely synaptic dysfunction and tau tangle formation in various brain regions. Remarkably, the impact of AβO in one of the earliest brain regions to exhibit Alzheimer’s pathology, the locus coeruleus (LC), remains to be determined. Of particular importance is the effect of AβO on the excitability of individual LC neurons. This parameter determines brain-wide noradrenaline (NA) release, and thus NA-mediated brain functions, including cognition, emotion and immune function, which are all severely compromised in Alzheimer’s. Using a mouse model of increased Aβ production (APP-PSEN1), together with correlative histopathological analyses in post mortem Alzheimer’s patient samples, we determined the impact of Aβ pathology on various correlates of LC neuronal integrity. AβO immunoreactivity in the LC of APP-PSEN1 mice was replicated in patient samples, presenting as individual clusters located both intraneuronally, in mitochondrial compartments, as well as extracellularly in association with inhibitory synapses. No specific signal was detected in either patient control or wild type mouse samples. Accompanying this AβO expression profile was LC neuronal hyperexcitability and indicators of oxidative stress in APP-PSEN1 mice. LC hyperexcitability arose from a diminished inhibitory effect of GABA, due to impaired expression and function of the GABA-A receptor (GABAAR) α3 subunit. Importantly, this altered LC α3-GABAAR expression profile overlapped with AβO expression in both APP-PSEN1 mice and Alzheimer’s patient samples. Finally, strychnine-sensitive glycine receptors (GlyRs) remained resilient to AβO-induced changes and their activation reversed LC hyperexcitability. Alongside this first demonstration of AβO expression in the LC of Alzheimer’s patients, the study is also first to reveal a direct association between AβO and LC neuronal excitability. GlyR-α3-GABAAR modulation of AβO-dependent LC hyperexcitability could delay the onset of cognitive and psychiatric symptoms arising from LC-NA deficits, thereby significantly diminishing the disease burden for Alzheimer’s patients.