A short ischemic episode preceding sustained ischemia is known to increase tolerance against ischemic cell death. We report early-onset long-lasting neuroprotection against in vitro hypoxia by preceding selective chemical inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation: "chemical preconditioning." The amplitude of CA1 population spikes (psap) in hippocampal slices prepared from control animals (control slices) was 31 +/- 27% (mean +/- SD) upon 45-min recovery from 15-min in vitro hypoxia. In slices prepared from animals treated in vivo with 20 mg/kg 3-nitropropionate (3-np) 1-24 h prior to slice preparation (preconditioned slices), psap improved to 90 +/- 15% (p < 0.01). Posthypoxic oxygen free radicals were reduced to 65 +/- 10% (mean +/- SD) of control in preconditioned slices (p < 0.05). Posthypoxic neuronal density improved from 52 +/- 15% (mean +/- SD) in control slices to 97 +/- 23% in preconditioned slices (p < 0.001). Glibenclamide, an antagonist at KATP-channels, partly reversed increased hypoxic tolerance. We conclude that chemical preconditioning induces early-onset long-lasting tolerance against in vitro hypoxia. Ultimately, this strategy may be applicable as a neuroprotective strategy in humans.

Accumulation of amyloid beta peptide (Abeta) has been suggested to contribute to neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Since chronic inflammation occurs in AD pathogenesis and lipoxygenases are important mediators of inflammatory processes, we evaluated the effect of lipoxygenase inhibitors on apoptosis induced by Abeta on rat cortical cells. The 12-lipoxygenase inhibitor baicalein attenuated both neuronal apoptosis and c-jun protein over-expression induced by Abeta(25- 35), whereas no protection was found with the broad spectrum lipoxygenase inhibitor nordihydroguaiaretic acid or the 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor caffeic acid. These results suggest that 12-lipoxygenase participates in a c-jun-dependent apoptosis pathway triggered by Abeta(25-35), and that specific 12-lipoxygenase inhibitors might be of interest in AD.

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Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are classic lesions of Alzheimer's disease. NFTs are bundles of abnormally phosphorylated tau, the paired helical filaments. The initiating mechanisms of NFTs and their role in neuronal loss are still unknown. Accumulating evidence supports a role for the activation of proteolytic enzymes, caspases, in neuronal death observed in brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Alterations in tau phosphorylation and tau cleavage by caspases have been previously reported in neuronal apoptosis. However, the links between the alterations in tau phosphorylation and its proteolytic cleavage have not yet been documented. Here, we show that, during staurosporine-induced neuronal apoptosis, tau first undergoes transient hyperphosphorylation, which is followed by dephosphorylation and cleavage. This cleavage generated a 10-kDa fragment in addition to the 17-and 50-kDa tau fragments previously reported. Prior tau dephosphorylation by a glycogen synthase kinase-3␤ inhibitor, lithium, enhanced tau cleavage and sensitized neurons to staurosporine-induced apoptosis. Caspase inhibition prevented tau cleavage without reversing changes in tau phosphorylation linked to apoptosis. Furthermore, the microtubule depolymerizing agent, colchicine, induced tau dephosphorylation and caspase-independent tau cleavage and degradation. Both phenomena were blocked by inhibiting protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) by okadaic acid. These experiments indicate that tau dephosphorylation precedes and is required for its cleavage and degradation. We propose that the absence of cleavage and degradation of hyperphosphorylated tau (due to PP2A inhibition) may lead to its accumulation in degenerating neurons. This mechanism may contribute to the aggregation of hyperphosphorylated tau into paired helical filaments in Alzheimer's disease where reduced PP2A activity has been reported.

Most early-onset cases of familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) are linked to mutations in two related genes, ps1 and ps2. FAD-linked mutant PS1 alters proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein and increases vulnerability to apoptosis induced by various cell stresses. In transfected cell lines, mutations in ps1 decrease the unfolded-protein response (UPR), which is the response to the increased amounts of unfolded proteins that accumulate in the endoplamic reticulum (ER), indicating that these mutations may increase vulnerability to ER stress by altering the UPR signalling pathway. Here we report that, in primary cultured neurons from cortices of transgenic mice, overexpression of mutated PS1 (M146L mutation) but not PS1 wild-type (wt) enhanced spontaneous neuronal apoptosis that involved oxidative stress and caspase activation. In PS1M146L cultures, neurons displaying immunoreactivity for human PS1 were threefold more vulnerable to spontaneous apoptosis than the overall neuronal population. In addition, PS1M146L transgenic neurons were more sensitive to apoptosis induced by various stresses, including two ER-Golgi toxins, nordihydroguaiatric acid and brefeldin A (also known to induce UPR), as well as staurosporine. In contrast, PS1 wt transgenic neurons were resistant to apoptosis induced by Golgi-ER toxins but displayed a comparable vulnerability to staurosporine. Our study demonstrates that, as previously reported, overexpression of FAD-linked mutant PS1 enhances neuronal vulnerability to spontaneous and induced apoptosis. In addition, we show that this vulnerability was correlated with mutant PS1 protein expression and that PS1 wt overexpression selectively prevented ER-Golgi stress-induced apoptosis. These data indicate that PS1 interferes with a specific apoptotic pathway that results from a dysfunction of the ER-Golgi compartment.

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Glutamate toxicity has been involved in the pathophysiology of a large variety of neurodegenerative disorders. Tau Protein is a micro-tubule-associated protein that promotes microtubule polymerization and stabilization. Phosphorylated tau protein accumulates in paired helical neurofilaments, the major constituent of neurofibrillary tangles observed in the brain of patients suffering from Alzheimer disease (AD). In this study, using confocal laser microscopy and immunoblot analysis, we report that acute (500 mu M for 15 min) or chronic (20 mu M for 16 h) N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) neuronal toxicities modify the immunoreactivity of phosphorylated tau. Neuronal degeneration produced by N-methyl-D-aspartate is associated with an augmented immunolabeling of phosphorylated tau proteins at serine 202 (AT8 antibody) as observed in paired helical neurofilaments. This finding could help to determine the cellular mechanisms at the origin of neuronal degeneration associated with modifications of phosphorylated tau immunoreactivity produced by receptor-mediated extracellular signals.