Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA | [b] Center for Dementia Research, Nathan Kline Institute, New York University Langone Medical Center, Orangeburg, NY, USA | [c] Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, Orangeburg, NY, USA | [d] Department of Physiology and Neuroscience, New York University School of Medicine, Orangeburg, NY, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Elliott J. Mufson, PhD, Alla and Solomon Jesmer Chair in Aging, Professor of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, 1735 West Harrison Street Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. Tel.: +1 312 563 3569; Fax: +1 312 563 3571; E-mail: emufson@rush.edu.
Abstract: Fibers containing galanin (GAL) hyperinnervate cholinergic basal forebrain (CBF) nucleus basalis neurons in late stage Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet the molecular consequences of this phenomenon are unknown. To determine whether GAL alters the expression of genes critical to CBF cell survival in AD, single cell microarray analysis was used to determine mRNA levels within nucleus basalis neurons lacking GAL innervation from subjects who died with a clinical diagnosis of no cognitive impairment (NCI) compared to nucleus basalis neurons from AD cases either lacking GAL hyperinnervation (AD/GAL-) or those displaying prominent GAL hyperinnervation (AD/GAL+). Levels of mRNAs encoding putatively neuroprotective proteins such as the GluR2 Ca2+-impermeable glutamate receptor subunit, superoxide dismutase 2, and the GLUT2 glucose transporter were significantly decreased in AD/GAL- nucleus basalis neurons compared to NCI and AD/GAL+ neurons. By contrast, mRNAs encoding calpain catalytic and regulatory subunits, which may contribute to cell death in AD, were increased in AD/GAL- compared to NCI and AD/GAL+ neurons. Hence, GAL fiber hyperinnervation appears to preserve the expression of genes subserving multiple neuroprotective pathways suggesting that GAL overexpression regulates CBF neuron survival in AD.
