The Aβ(1-38) peptide is a negative regulator of the Aβ(1-42) peptide implicated in Alzheimer disease progression.
Sci Rep 2021;
11:431. [PMID:
33432101 PMCID:
PMC7801637 DOI:
10.1038/s41598-020-80164-w]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2020] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The pool of β-Amyloid (Aβ) length variants detected in preclinical and clinical Alzheimer disease (AD) samples suggests a diversity of roles for Aβ peptides. We examined how a naturally occurring variant, e.g. Aβ(1-38), interacts with the AD-related variant, Aβ(1-42), and the predominant physiological variant, Aβ(1-40). Atomic force microscopy, Thioflavin T fluorescence, circular dichroism, dynamic light scattering, and surface plasmon resonance reveal that Aβ(1-38) interacts differently with Aβ(1-40) and Aβ(1-42) and, in general, Aβ(1-38) interferes with the conversion of Aβ(1-42) to a β-sheet-rich aggregate. Functionally, Aβ(1-38) reverses the negative impact of Aβ(1-42) on long-term potentiation in acute hippocampal slices and on membrane conductance in primary neurons, and mitigates an Aβ(1-42) phenotype in Caenorhabditis elegans. Aβ(1-38) also reverses any loss of MTT conversion induced by Aβ(1-40) and Aβ(1-42) in HT-22 hippocampal neurons and APOE ε4-positive human fibroblasts, although the combination of Aβ(1-38) and Aβ(1-42) inhibits MTT conversion in APOE ε4-negative fibroblasts. A greater ratio of soluble Aβ(1-42)/Aβ(1-38) [and Aβ(1-42)/Aβ(1-40)] in autopsied brain extracts correlates with an earlier age-at-death in males (but not females) with a diagnosis of AD. These results suggest that Aβ(1-38) is capable of physically counteracting, potentially in a sex-dependent manner, the neuropathological effects of the AD-relevant Aβ(1-42).
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