Issue Cover (October 2020)

Front cover: Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the leading type of dementia worldwide. Glutamate is the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and plays an essential role in the function and health of neurons and neuronal excitability. This is the first comprehensive anatomical study to characterize the subregion‐ and cell layer‐specific effect of beta‐amyloid (Aβ1‐42) on the expression of specific glutamate receptors and transporters in the mouse hippocampus, using immunohistochemistry with confocal microscopy. Our data demonstrate heterogeneous expression changes in glutamatergic signaling components in an in vivo Aβ1‐42‐injected mouse model of AD. These changes have the ability to alter normal glutamatergic signaling and could contribute to AD pathology. Due to the pivotal role of the glutamatergic system in regulating synaptic activity, any disruption to its composition could have consequences for normal neuronal function. These findings also indicate that Aβ1‐42 induces brain region and layer specific expression changes of the glutamatergic receptors and transporters, suggesting complex and spatial vulnerability of this pathway during AD neuropathology. Image content : The image shows glutamate receptor GluA1 subunit (green) and glutamate transporter vGluT1 (red) immunoreactivity in CA3 region of the mouse hippocampus. Nuclei were counterstained with Hoechst dye (blue).Read the full article ‘Amyloid‐beta1–42 induced glutamatergic receptor and transporter expression changes in the mouse hippocampus’ by J. H. Y. Yeung, B. C.‐F. Guzmán, T. H. Palpagama, J. Ethiraj, Y. Zhai, W. P. Tate, K. Peppercorn, H. J. Waldvogel, R. L. M. Faull, A. Kwakowsky, ( J. Neurochem. 2020, vol. 155 (1), pp. 19–62) on doi: 10.1111/jnc.15099