Affiliations: Center for Cellular Neurobiology and Neurodegeneration Research, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts–Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Thomas B. Shea, Center for Cellular Neurobiology and Neurodegeneration Research, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts–Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854, USA. Tel.: +1 978 934 2881; Fax: +1 978 934 3044; E-mail: Thomas_Shea@uml.edu.
Abstract: Folate deficiency has been associated with age-related neurodegeneration. We demonstrate herein that dietary deficiency in folate and vitamin E, coupled pro-oxidant stress induced by dietary iron, increased amyloid-β (Aβ) levels in normal adult mice. This increase was potentiated by apolipoprotein E (ApoE) deficiency as shown by treatment of transgenic mice homozygously lacking murine ApoE. Dietary supplementation with apple juice concentrate in drinking water alleviated the increase in Aβ for both mouse genotypes. These findings provide further evidence linking nutritional and genetic risk factors for age-related neurodegeneration, and underscore that dietary supplementation may be useful to augment therapeutic approaches.
Keywords: Alzheimer disease, amyloid-β, apolipoprotein E, apple juice, γ-secretase, nutrition, presenilin
