Molecular correlates of axonal and synaptic pathology in mouse models of Batten disease

AimsSynapses represent a major pathological target across a broad range of neurodegenerative conditions. Recent studies addressing molecular mechanisms regulating synaptic vulnerability and degeneration have relied heavily on invertebrate and mouse models. Whether similar molecular neuropathological changes underpin synaptic breakdown in large animal models and in human patients with neurodegenerative disease remains unclear. We therefore investigated whether molecular regulators of synaptic pathophysiology, previously identified in Drosophila and mouse models, are similarly present and modified in the brain of sheep with CLN5 Batten disease.MethodsGross neuropathological analysis of CLN5 Batten disease sheep and controls was used alongside postmortem MRI imaging to identify affected brain regions. Synaptosome preparations were then generated and quantitative fluorescent Western blotting used to determine and compare levels of synaptic proteins.ResultsThe cortex was particularly affected by regional neurodegeneration and synaptic loss in CLN5 sheep, whilst the cerebellum was relatively spared. Quantitative assessment of the protein content of synaptosome preparations revealed significant changes in levels of seven out of eight synaptic neurodegeneration proteins investigated in the motor cortex, but not cerebellum, of CLN5 sheep (α‐synuclein, CSP‐α, neurofascin, ROCK2, calretinin, SIRT2, and UBR4).ConclusionsSynaptic pathology is a robust correlate of region‐specific neurodegeneration in the brain of CLN5 sheep, driven by molecular pathways similar to those reported in Drosophila and rodent models. Thus, large animal models, such as sheep, represent ideal translational systems to develop and test therapeutics aimed at delaying or halting synaptic pathology for a range of human neurodegenerative conditions.

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“…2008; Kielar et al. 2009; Koch et al. 2011) are a conserved feature of these diseases applicable to all animal models as well as human patients.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular neuropathology of the synapse in sheep with CLN5 Batten disease

et al. 2015

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“…VDAC1 may reasonably represent a marker of neuronal vulnerability and cognitive impairment, in neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer disease [Rosa et al, 2016], and neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses [Kielar et al, 2009]. These conditions are characterized by speech and language problems, with a decline in verbal abilities over time [Lamminranta et al, 2001;von Tetzchner et al, 2013].…”

Section: Sz and (The Evolution Of) Human Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

Schizophrenia and Human Self-Domestication: An Evolutionary Linguistics Approach

et al. 2017

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Schizophrenia (SZ) is a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder that entails social and cognitive deficits, including marked language problems. Its complex multifactorial etiopathogenesis, including genetic and environmental factors, is still widely uncertain. SZ incidence has always been high and quite stable in human populations, across time and regardless of cultural implications, for unclear reasons. It has been hypothesized that SZ pathophysiology may involve the biological components that changed during the recent human evolutionary history, and led to our distinctive mode of cognition, which includes language skills. In this paper we explore this hypothesis, focusing on the self-domestication of the human species. This has been claimed to account for many human-specific distinctive traits, including aspects of our behavior and cognition, and to favor the emergence of complex languages through cultural evolution. The “domestication syndrome” in mammals comprises the constellation of traits exhibited by domesticated strains, seemingly resulting from the hypofunction of the neural crest. It is our intention to show that people with SZ exhibit more marked domesticated traits at the morphological, physiological, and behavioral levels. We also show that genes involved in domestication and neural crest development and function comprise nearly 20% of SZ candidates, most of which exhibit altered expression profiles in the brain of SZ patients, specifically in areas involved in language processing. Based on these observations, we conclude that SZ may represent an abnormal ontogenetic itinerary for the human faculty of language, resulting, at least in part, from changes in genes important for the domestication syndrome and primarily involving the neural crest.

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“…Neurons also showed the characteristic accumulation of autofluorescent storage material (AFSM) within their cell bodies (11). Similar reactive and degenerative changes occur in the cerebellum (15), and there is evidence for both axonal and synaptic pathology (16). However, these findings cannot fully explain the sensorimotor deficits observed both in patients and Ppt1 −/− mice (17,18).…”

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confidence: 99%

Synergistic effects of treating the spinal cord and brain in CLN1 disease

Shyng

Nelvagal

Dearborn

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

101

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Infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (INCL, or CLN1 disease) is an inherited neurodegenerative storage disorder caused by a deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme palmitoyl protein thioesterase 1 (PPT1). It was widely believed that the pathology associated with INCL was limited to the brain, but we have now found unexpectedly profound pathology in the human INCL spinal cord. Similar pathological changes also occur at every level of the spinal cord of PPT1-deficient (Ppt1 −/− ) mice before the onset of neuropathology in the brain. Various forebrain-directed gene therapy approaches have only had limited success in Ppt1 −/− mice. Targeting the spinal cord via intrathecal administration of an adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene transfer vector significantly prevented pathology and produced significant improvements in life span and motor function in Ppt1 −/− mice. Surprisingly, forebrain-directed gene therapy resulted in essentially no PPT1 activity in the spinal cord, and vice versa. This leads to a reciprocal pattern of histological correction in the respective tissues when comparing intracranial with intrathecal injections. However, the characteristic pathological features of INCL were almost completely absent in both the brain and spinal cord when intracranial and intrathecal injections of the same AAV vector were combined. Targeting both the brain and spinal cord also produced dramatic and synergistic improvements in motor function with an unprecedented increase in life span. These data show that spinal cord pathology significantly contributes to the clinical progression of INCL and can be effectively targeted therapeutically. This has important implications for the delivery of therapies in INCL, and potentially in other similar disorders.infantile Batten disease | adeno-associated virus | spinal cord | brain | combination therapy

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Molecular correlates of axonal and synaptic pathology in mouse models of Batten disease

Cited by 85 publications

References 64 publications

Molecular neuropathology of the synapse in sheep with CLN5 Batten disease

Molecular neuropathology of the synapse in sheep with CLN5 Batten disease

Schizophrenia and Human Self-Domestication: An Evolutionary Linguistics Approach

Synergistic effects of treating the spinal cord and brain in CLN1 disease

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