
TEMPORAL CHANGES IN ASTROCYTES ON A TRANSGENIC RAT MODEL OF AD
Author(s) -
Andréia Silva da Rocha,
Bruna Bellaver,
Luiza Santos Machado,
Carolina Soares,
Pamela C.L. Ferreira,
Samuel Greggio Gianina T. Venturin,
Jaderson Costa da Costa,
Diogo Onofre Gomes de Souza,
Eduardo R. Zimmer
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
dementia and neuropsychologia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.54
H-Index - 21
ISSN - 1980-5764
DOI - 10.5327/1980-5764.rpda023
Subject(s) - genetically modified mouse , astrocyte , glutamate receptor , neuroscience , in vivo , ex vivo , transgene , medicine , alzheimer's disease , pathology , endocrinology , biology , disease , central nervous system , biochemistry , gene , genetics , receptor
Background: Recent evidences have pointed to astrocytes as important players in the Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) pathogenesis. Objective: With this in mind, we aim to longitudinally investigate astrocyte changes in a new important AD transgenic model, the TgF344-AD rat, the first animal model harboring human APP/PS1 mutations which presents age-dependent amyloid and tau pathology. Methods: TgF344-AD rats and wild type littermates were evaluated in three time points: 3, 6 and 9 months of age. Rats underwent a [18F]FDG-microPET, a spatial-memory, an astrocytes CSF biomarkers (ELISA multiplex) and a glutamate uptake (ex-vivo slices) analysis. Examination of further time-points are being conducted at the moment. Results: At 9 months of age, TgF344-AD animals presented an increase in the cortical [18F]FDG uptake and a decline in their alternance performance in the Y-maze task. In the CSF analysis, GFAP was elevated at both 6 months and 9 months, while S100B presented a decrease at 6mo. Additionally, the cortical glutamate uptake was increased at 9 months. Conclusion: This study is the first to longitudinally investigate the in vivo brain glucose metabolism in the TgF344-AD rat model. Our results suggest that this model presents an early increase on glucose metabolism which may be related to astrocytes activation and the increase of glutamate uptake by these cells. Furthermore, we also identified a spatial memory impairment at the same age.