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Decreased drebrin mRNA expression in Alzheimer disease: Correlation with tau pathology
Author(s) -
Julien Carl,
Tremblay Cyntia,
Bendjelloul Farid,
Phivilay Alix,
Coulombe MarieAndrée,
Émond Vincent,
Calon Frédéric
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of neuroscience research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.72
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1097-4547
pISSN - 0360-4012
DOI - 10.1002/jnr.21667
Subject(s) - messenger rna , tau protein , temporal cortex , in situ hybridization , hippocampus , cortex (anatomy) , medicine , chemistry , endocrinology , alzheimer's disease , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , disease , neuroscience , biochemistry , gene
To investigate the mRNA expression of the dendritic spine protein drebrin in Alzheimer's disease (AD), we performed post‐mortem in situ hybridization studies in brain sections from 20 AD patients and 21 controls. AD diagnosis was confirmed by decreased drebrin protein and increased Aβ 40 (+464%; P < 0.05), Aβ 42 (+369%; P < 0.0001), Aβ 42/40 ratio (+226%; P < 0.01), total tau (+2,725%; P < 0.0001), and paired helical filament tau (PHFtau; +867%; P < 0.001) compared with controls. We found significant decreases in drebrin mRNA in the parietal cortex (–27%; P < 0.01), the temporal cortex (–22%; P < 0.05), and the hippocampus (–25%; P < 0.05) of AD patients compared with controls. Cortical levels of drebrin mRNA correlated positively with soluble total tau (r 2 = +0.244) but negatively with duration of symptoms (r 2 = −0.357) and PHFtau (r 2 = −0.248). Drebrin mRNA levels were correlated to a lesser degree with the drebrin protein content (r 2 = +0.136) and with sim2 (r 2 = +0.176), a potential modulator of drebrin transcription. Our results suggest that the down‐regulation of drebrin mRNA expression plays an important role in AD and is closely related to the progression of the disease. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.