Insulin and insulin-like growth factor-I induced phosphorylation in neurally derived cells

Diabetes Mellitus Induces Alzheimer's Disease Pathology: Histopathological Evidence from Animal Models

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the major causative disease of dementia and is characterized pathologically by the accumulation of senile plaques (SPs) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in the brain. Although genetic studies show that β-amyloid protein (Aβ), the major component of SPs, is the key factor underlying AD pathogenesis, it remains unclear why advanced age often leads to AD. Interestingly, several epidemiological and clinical studies show that type II diabetes mellitus (DM) patients are more likely to exhibit increased susceptibility to AD. Moreover, growing evidence suggests that there are several connections between the neuropathology that underlies AD and DM, and there is evidence that the experimental induction of DM can cause cognitive dysfunction, even in rodent animal models. This mini-review summarizes histopathological evidence that DM induces AD pathology in animal models and discusses the possibility that aberrant insulin signaling is a key factor in the induction of AD pathology.

Cellular and metabolic alterations in the hippocampus caused by insulin signalling dysfunction and its association with cognitive impairment during aging and Alzheimer's disease: studies in animal models

A growing body of animal and epidemiological studies suggest that metabolic diseases such as obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus are associated with the development of cognitive impairment, dementia and Alzheimer's disease, particularly in aging. Several lines of evidence suggest that insulin signalling dysfunction produces these metabolic alterations and underlie the development of these neurodegenerative diseases. In this article, we address normal insulin function in the synapse; we review and discuss the physiopathological hallmarks of synaptic insulin signalling dysfunction associated with metabolic alterations. Additionally, we describe and review the major animal models of obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The comprehensive knowledge of the molecular mechanisms behind the association of metabolic alterations and cognitive impairment could facilitate the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases in patients with metabolic alterations, with treatment that focus on neuroprotection. It could also help in the development of metabolic-based therapies and drugs for using in dementia and Alzheimer's disease patients to alleviate their symptoms in a more efficient and comprehensive way.

Insulin and the insulin receptor in experimental models of learning and memory

Insulin is best known for its action on peripheral insulin target tissues such as the adipocyte, muscle and liver to regulate glucose homeostasis. In the central nervous system (CNS), insulin and the insulin receptor are found in specific brain regions where they show evidence of participation in a variety of region-specific functions through mechanisms that are different from its direct glucose regulation in the periphery. While the insulin/insulin receptor associated with the hypothalamus plays important roles in regulation of the body energy homeostasis, the hippocampus- and cerebral cortex-distributed insulin/insulin receptor has been shown to be involved in brain cognitive functions. Emerging evidence has suggested that insulin signaling plays a role in synaptic plasticity by modulating activities of excitatory and inhibitory receptors such as glutamate and GABA receptors, and by triggering signal transduction cascades leading to alteration of gene expression that is required for long-term memory consolidation. Furthermore, deterioration of insulin receptor signaling appears to be associated with aging-related brain degeneration such as the Alzheimer's dementia and cognitive impairment in aged subjects suffering type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The early intracellular signaling pathway for the insulin/insulin-like growth factor receptor family in the mammalian central nervous system

Several studies support the idea that the polypeptides belonging to the family of insulin and insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) play an important role in brain development and continue to be produced in discrete areas of the adult brain. In numerous neuronal populations within the olfactory bulb, the cerebral and cerebellar cortex, the hippocampus, some diencephalic and brainstem nuclei, the spinal cord and the retina, specific insulin and IGF receptors, as well as crucial components of the intracellular receptor signaling pathway have been demonstrated. Thus, mature neurons are endowed with the cellular machinery to respond to insulin and IGF stimulation. Studies in vitro and in vivo, using normal and transgenic animals, have led to the hypothesis that, in the adult brain, IGF-I not only acts as a trophic factor, but also as a neuromodulator of some higher brain functions, such as long-term potentiation and depression. Furthermore, a trophic effect on certain neuronal populations becomes clearly evident in the ischemic brain or neurodegenerative disorders. Thus, the analysis of the early intracellular signaling pathway for the insulin/IGF receptor family in the brain is providing us with new intriguing findings on the way the mammalian brain is sculpted and operates.

Ethanol inhibits insulin receptor substrate-1 tyrosine phosphorylation and insulin-stimulated neuronal thread protein gene expression

Neuronal thread proteins (NTPs) are molecules that accumulate in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease, and may play a key role in both normal and neurodegenerative neuritic sprouting. In this investigation we determined whether NTP expression is up-regulated by insulin, an important neurotrophic factor that stimulates differentiation-associated neurite outgrowth, and studied the effects of ethanol, a known inhibitor of growth factor receptor tyrosine phosphorylation, on NTP expression and insulin-mediated signal transduction cascade in neuronal [primitive neuroectodermal tumour cell line 2; (PNET2)] cells. PNET2 cells were treated with 50 m-units/ml insulin in the presence or absence of 100 mM ethanol for 0.2-96 h, and cell proliferation and expression of NTP molecules were investigated by metabolic labelling, immunoprecipitation and immunohistochemical staining. Insulin stimulation resulted in an immediate increase in the levels of three (38, 18 and 15 kDa) of five NTP species (the others were of 26 and 21 kDa), followed by a decline in expression within 120 min; however, studies performed up to 96 h of culture demonstrated up-regulation by insulin of all five NTP species. Ethanol either abolished or severely muted the short- and long-term insulin-mediated upregulation of NTP expression, and substantially reduced insulin-mediated neuronal differentiation. The effects of ethanol on NTP gene expression were associated with impaired insulin-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of both the insulin receptor beta subunit and the insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1), resulting in decreased association of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase with IRS-1. The findings suggest that ethanol may inhibit NTP expression associated with central nervous system neuronal differentiation by uncoupling the IRS-1-mediated insulin signal transduction pathway.

Insulin-induced differentiation and modulation of neuronal thread protein expression in primitive neuroectodermal tumor cells is linked to phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate-1

Neuronal thread proteins (NTPs) are a family of developmentally regulated molecules expressed in central nervous system (CNS) neurons and primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) cell lines. NTP gene expression is modulated with DNA synthesis, neuritic sprouting, and neuronal differentiation. The present study explores the mechanism of insulin modulation of NTP gene expression during neuronal differentiation using PNET cell lines of CNS origin. PNET2 cells underwent neuronal differentiation with neurite outgrowth coupled with transient up-regulation of several species of NTP. In contrast, PNET1 cells failed to differentiate in response to insulin stimulation, although insulin receptors were more abundant than in PNET2 cells. Analysis of the insulin-mediated signal transduction pathway demonstrated that the lack of insulin responsiveness in PNET1 cells was primarily caused by impaired insulin-mediated tyrosyl phosphorylation of the insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1). Correspondingly, the association between phosphatidyl-inositol 3 (PI3) kinase and phosphorylated IRS-1 was reduced in PNET1 compared with PNET2 cells. In contrast, the levels of IRS-1 protein were similar in PNET1 and PNET2 cells, and expression of the insulin receptor beta subunit (Ir beta) and insulin-mediated tyrosyl phosphorylation of the Ir beta were greater in PNET1 than PNET2 cells. The findings suggest that insulin effected neuronal differentiation and modulation of NTP gene expression in PNET cells utilizes a signal transduction cascade that requires tyrosyl phosphorylation of IRS-1.

The effect of insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 on the expression of calretinin and calbindin D-28k in rat embryonic neurons in culture

In a primary culture of rat embryonic neurons, insulin (5 mg/ml) promoted neurite formation between neuron clusters in serum/glial-free simplified medium with a high concentration of transferrin (100 micrograms/ml). Insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1) exerted a similar effect in the same culture system at a lower dose (100 ng/ml) of insulin. Calretinin has recently been identified as a calcium binding protein expressed predominantly in sensory neurons, which has six calcium binding domains and shows molecular similarity to calbindin D-28k, an intestinal calcium transporter protein also found in the CNS. The effects of insulin and IGF-1 on the expression of calretinin and calbindin D-28k were investigated in rat embryonic neuronal cell culture. When cells were cultured for 2 days, insulin and IGF-1 promoted the expression of both proteins; when cultured for more than 2 days, IGF-1 still exerted a growth factor effect, but insulin decreased the expression of calretinin. Using the present culture system, we demonstrated that the effects of closely related molecules, insulin and IGF-1 which share receptors reciprocally, differed in calretinin and calbindin D-28k expression. Therefore, these two calcium binding proteins may play different physiological roles in the nervous system based either on different molecular mechanisms or switching roles at different stages of CNS development. Amplification based on Western blot employing the streptoavidin-horseradish peroxidase method was applied to detect calretinin and calbindin D-28k in the culture system by an immunoblotting technique.