Amyloid Deposits Show Complexity and Intimate Spatial Relationship with Dendrosomatic Plasma Membranes: An Electron Microscopic 3D Reconstruction Analysis in 3xTg-AD Mice and Aged Canines
Affiliations: [a] Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience and Department of Anatomy, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway | [b] Neuro-Behavioural Biology Centre, Institute of Science and Technology for Research and Development, Mahidol University, Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand | [c] Department of Physiology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA | [d] Department of Neurobiology and Behavior and Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Reidun Torp, Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience and Department of Anatomy, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1105, Blindern, N-0317 Oslo, Norway. E-mail: torp@basalmed.uio.no.
Abstract: Little is known about how amyloid-β (Aβ) is deposited in relation to the complex ultrastructure of the brain. Here we combined serial section immunoelectron microscopy with 3D reconstruction to elucidate the spatial relationship between Aβ deposits and ultrastructurally identified cellular compartments. The analysis was performed in a transgenic mouse model with mutant presenilin-1, and mutant amyloid-β protein precursor (AβPP) and tau transgenes (3xTg-AD mice) and in aged dogs that develop Aβ plaques spontaneously. Reconstructions based on serial ultrathin sections of hippocampus (mice) or neocortex (dogs) that had been immunolabeled with Aβ (Aβ1–42) antibodies showed that the organization of extracellular Aβ deposits is more complex than anticipated from light microscopic analyses. In both species, deposits were tightly associated with plasma membranes of pyramidal cell bodies and major dendrites. The deposits typically consisted of thin sheets as well as slender tendrils that climbed along the large caliber dendritic stems of pyramidal neurons. No preferential association was observed between Aβ deposits and thin dendritic branches or spines, nor was there any evidence of preferential accumulation of Aβ around synaptic contacts or glial processes. Our data suggest that plaque formation is a precisely orchestrated process that involves specialized domains of dendrosomatic plasma membranes.
Keywords: Aged dogs, amyloid-β, electron microscopy, 3D images, immunocytochemistry, 3xTg mice
