Refine
Has Fulltext
- yes (2)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (2)
Document Type
- Journal article (1)
- Doctoral Thesis (1)
Language
- English (2)
Keywords
- streptozotocin (2) (remove)
Institute
- Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie, Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie (2) (remove)
Rats intracerebroventricularily (icv) treated with streptozotocin (STZ), shown to generate an insulin resistant brain state, were used as an animal model for the sporadic form of Alzheimer's disease (sAD). Previously, we showed in an in vivo study that 3 months after STZ icv treatment hippocampal adult neurogenesis (AN) is impaired. In the present study, we examined the effects of STZ on isolated adult hippocampal neural stem cells (NSCs) using an in vitro approach. We revealed that 2.5 mM STZ inhibits the proliferation of NSCs as indicated by reduced number and size of neurospheres as well as by less BrdU-immunoreactive NSCs. Double immunofluorescence stainings of NSCs already being triggered to start with their differentiation showed that STZ primarily impairs the generation of new neurons, but not of astrocytes. For revealing mechanisms possibly involved in mediating STZ effects we analyzed expression levels of insulin/glucose system-related molecules such as the glucose transporter (GLUT) 1 and 3, the insulin receptor (IR) and the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) 1 receptor. Applying quantitative Real time-PCR (qRT-PCR) and immunofluorescence stainings we showed that STZ exerts its strongest effects on GLUT3 expression, as GLUT3 mRNA levels were found to be reduced in NSCs, and less GLUT3-immunoreactive NSCs as well as differentiating cells were detected after STZ treatment. These findings suggest that cultured NSCs are a good model for developing new strategies to treat nerve cell loss in AD and other degenerative disorders.
This research was aimed to evaluate the time-course of changes in the brain insulin and some elements of the insulin receptor (IR) signalling cascade in the streptozotocin-intracerebroventricullarly (STZ-icv) treated rats representing experimental model of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (sAD) and to compare them with effects of chronically increased corticosterone on the brain insulin system. This study shows down-regulation in mRNA expression of insulin, insulin receptor (IR), and insulin degrading enzyme (IDE) but no changes were observed in the expression of tau mRNA in hippocampus of STZ-icv treated rats. Comparing these results to the ones found in corticosterone treated rats similarities at the level of insulin, IR and IDE mRNA expression can be assumed. In contrast tau mRNA expression in corticosterone treated rats were increased, data which are in line with sAD. Behavioural deficits were found in both STZ-icv and corticosterone treated rats. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that many of the characteristic features of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (sAD) can be produced experimentally by impairing the insulin/IR signaling pathway combined with a chronic increase of corticosterone. This supports our hypothesis that sAD represents a neuro-endocrine disorder associated with brain-specific disregulation in insulin and IR signaling, caused in part by increased level of corticosterone. In line with that our study puts a question on the classical amyloid β (Aβ) hypothesis, supporting the view of brain insulin system dysfunction as a trigger for the Aβ pathology in an experimental sAD model.