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- Creators: Harrington Bioengineering Program
Description
Cognitive function declines with normal age and disease states, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Loss of ovarian hormones at menopause has been shown to exacerbate age-related memory decline and may be related to the increased risk of AD in women versus men. Some studies show that hormone therapy (HT) can have beneficial effects on cognition in normal aging and AD, but increasing evidence suggests that the most commonly used HT formulation is not ideal. Work in this dissertation used the surgically menopausal rat to evaluate the cognitive effects and mechanisms of progestogens proscribed to women. I also translated these questions to the clinic, evaluating whether history of HT use impacts hippocampal and entorhinal cortex volumes assessed via imaging, and cognition, in menopausal women. Further, this dissertation investigates how sex impacts responsiveness to dietary interventions in a mouse model of AD. Results indicate that the most commonly used progestogen component of HT, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), impairs cognition in the middle-aged and aged surgically menopausal rat. Further, MPA is the sole hormone component of the contraceptive Depo Provera, and my research indicates that MPA administered to young-adult rats leads to long lasting cognitive impairments, evident at middle age. Natural progesterone has been gaining increasing popularity as an alternate option to MPA for HT; however, my findings suggest that progesterone also impairs cognition in the middle-aged and aged surgically menopausal rat, and that the mechanism may be through increased GABAergic activation. This dissertation identified two less commonly used progestogens, norethindrone acetate and levonorgestrel, as potential HTs that could improve cognition in the surgically menopausal rat. Parameters guiding divergent effects on cognition were discovered. In women, prior HT use was associated with larger hippocampal and entorhinal cortex volumes, as well as a modest verbal memory enhancement. Finally, in a model of AD, sex impacts responsiveness to a dietary cognitive intervention, with benefits seen in male, but not female, transgenic mice. These findings have clinical implications, especially since women are at higher risk for AD diagnosis. Together, it is my hope that this information adds to the overarching goal of optimizing cognitive aging in women.
ContributorsBraden, Brittany Blair (Author) / Bimonte-Nelson, Heather A. (Thesis advisor) / Neisewander, Janet L (Committee member) / Conrad, Cheryl D. (Committee member) / Baxter, Leslie C (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by the degeneration of cholinergic basal forebrain (CBF) neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert (nbM), which provides the majority of cholinergic input to the cortical mantle and together form the basocortical cholinergic system. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) dysregulation in the temporal lobe has been associated with neuronal degeneration during AD progression. However, whether HDAC alterations play a role in cortical and cortically-projecting cholinergic nbM neuronal degeneration during AD onset is unknown. In an effort to characterize alterations in the basocortical epigenome semi-quantitative western blotting and immunohistochemistry were utilized to evaluate HDAC and sirtuin (SIRT) levels in individuals that died with a premortem clinical diagnosis of no cognitive impairment (NCI), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), mild/moderate AD (mAD), or severe AD (sAD). In the frontal cortex, immunoblots revealed significant increases in HDAC1 and HDAC3 in MCI and mAD, followed by a decrease in sAD. Cortical HDAC2 levels remained stable across clinical groups. HDAC4 was significantly increased in prodromal and mild AD compared to aged cognitively normal controls. HDAC6 significantly increased during disease progression, while SIRT1 decreased in MCI, mAD, and sAD compared to controls. Basal forebrain levels of HDAC1, 3, 4, 6 and SIRT1 were stable across disease progression, while HDAC2 levels were significantly decreased in sAD. Quantitative immunohistochemistry was used to identify HDAC2 protein levels in individual cholinergic nbM nuclei immunoreactive for the early phosphorylated tau marker AT8, the late-stage apoptotic tau marker TauC3, and Thioflavin-S, a marker of mature neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). HDAC2 nuclear immunoreactivity was reduced in individual cholinergic nbM neurons across disease stages, and was exacerbated in tangle-bearing cholinergic nbM neurons. HDAC2 nuclear reactivity correlated with multiple cognitive domains and with NFT formation. These findings identify global HDAC and SIRT alterations in the cortex while HDAC2 dysregulation contributes to cholinergic nbM neuronal dysfunction and NFT pathology during the progression of AD.
ContributorsMahady, Laura Jean (Author) / Mufson, Elliott J (Thesis advisor) / Bimonte-Nelson, Heather A. (Thesis advisor) / Coleman, Paul (Committee member) / Bowser, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) affects over 5 million individuals in the U.S. and has a direct cost estimated in excess of $200 billion per year. Broadly speaking, there are two forms of AD—early-onset, familial AD (FAD) and late-onset-sporadic AD (SAD). Animal models of AD, which rely on the overexpression of FAD-related mutations, have provided important insights into the disease. However, these models do not display important disease-related pathologies and have been limited in their ability to model the complex genetics associated with SAD.
Advances in cellular reprogramming, have enabled the generation of in vitro disease models that can be used to dissect disease mechanisms and evaluate potential therapeutics. To that end, efforts by many groups, including the Brafman laboratory, to generated patient-specific hiPSCs have demonstrated the promise of studying AD in a simplified and accessible system. However, neurons generated from these hiPSCs have shown some, but not all, of the early molecular and cellular hallmarks associated with the disease. Additionally, phenotypes and pathological hallmarks associated with later stages of the human disease have not been observed with current hiPSC-based systems. Further, disease relevant phenotypes in neurons generated from SAD hiPSCs have been highly variable or largely absent. Finally, the reprogramming process erases phenotypes associated with cellular aging and, as a result, iPSC-derived neurons more closely resemble fetal brain rather than adult brain.
It is well-established that in vivo cells reside within a complex 3-D microenvironment that plays a significant role in regulating cell behavior. Signaling and other cellular functions, such as gene expression and differentiation potential, differ in 3-D cultures compared with 2-D substrates. Nonetheless, previous studies using AD hiPSCs have relied on 2-D neuronal culture models that do not reflect the 3-D complexity of native brain tissue, and therefore, are unable to replicate all aspects of AD pathogenesis. Further, the reprogramming process erases cellular aging phenotypes. To address these limitations, this project aimed to develop bioengineering methods for the generation of 3-D organoid-based cultures that mimic in vivo cortical tissue, and to generate an inducible gene repression system to recapitulate cellular aging hallmarks.
Advances in cellular reprogramming, have enabled the generation of in vitro disease models that can be used to dissect disease mechanisms and evaluate potential therapeutics. To that end, efforts by many groups, including the Brafman laboratory, to generated patient-specific hiPSCs have demonstrated the promise of studying AD in a simplified and accessible system. However, neurons generated from these hiPSCs have shown some, but not all, of the early molecular and cellular hallmarks associated with the disease. Additionally, phenotypes and pathological hallmarks associated with later stages of the human disease have not been observed with current hiPSC-based systems. Further, disease relevant phenotypes in neurons generated from SAD hiPSCs have been highly variable or largely absent. Finally, the reprogramming process erases phenotypes associated with cellular aging and, as a result, iPSC-derived neurons more closely resemble fetal brain rather than adult brain.
It is well-established that in vivo cells reside within a complex 3-D microenvironment that plays a significant role in regulating cell behavior. Signaling and other cellular functions, such as gene expression and differentiation potential, differ in 3-D cultures compared with 2-D substrates. Nonetheless, previous studies using AD hiPSCs have relied on 2-D neuronal culture models that do not reflect the 3-D complexity of native brain tissue, and therefore, are unable to replicate all aspects of AD pathogenesis. Further, the reprogramming process erases cellular aging phenotypes. To address these limitations, this project aimed to develop bioengineering methods for the generation of 3-D organoid-based cultures that mimic in vivo cortical tissue, and to generate an inducible gene repression system to recapitulate cellular aging hallmarks.
ContributorsBounds, Lexi Rose (Author) / Brafman, David (Thesis director) / Wang, Xiao (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
To date, it has been difficult to elucidate the role of tau in learning and memory during adulthood due to developmental compensation of other microtubule associated proteins in Tau knockout (KO) mice. Here, we generated an adeno-associated virus (AAV) expressing a doxycycline (doxy)-inducible short-hairpin (sh) RNA targeted to tau, and stereotaxically and bilaterally injected 7-month-old C57BL/6 mice with either the AAV-shRNAtau or an AAV expressing a scramble shRNA sequence. Seven days after the injections, all animals were administered doxy for thirty-five days to induce expression of shRNAs, after which they were tested in the open field, rotarod and Morris water maze (MWM) to assess anxiety like behavior, motor coordination and spatial reference memory, respectively. Our results show that reducing tau in the adult hippocampus produces significant impairments in motor coordination, endurance and spatial memory. Tissue analyses shows that tau knockdown reduces hippocampal dendritic spine density and the levels of BDNF and synaptophysin, two proteins involved in memory formation and plasticity. Our approach circumvents the developmental compensation issues observed in Tau KO models and shows that reducing tau levels during adulthood impairs cognition.
ContributorsTran, An Le (Author) / Oddo, Salvatore (Thesis director) / Velazquez, Ramon (Committee member) / Roberson, Erik (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
As life expectancy increases worldwide, age related diseases are becoming greater health concerns. One of the most prevalent age-related diseases in the United States is dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) being the most common form, accounting for 60-80% of cases. Genetics plays a large role in a person’s risk of developing AD. Familial AD, which makes up less than 1% of all AD cases, is caused by autosomal dominant gene mutations and has almost 100% penetrance. Genetic risk factors are believed to make up about 49%-79% of the risk in sporadic cases. Many different genetic risk factors for both familial and sporadic AD have been identified, but there is still much work to be done in the field of AD, especially in non-Caucasian populations. This review summarizes the three major genes responsible for familial AD, namely APP, PSEN1 and PSEN2. Also discussed are seven identified genetic risk factors for sporadic AD, single nucleotide polymorphisms in the APOE, ABCA7, NEDD9, CASS4, PTK2B, CLU, and PICALM genes. An overview of the main function of the proteins associated with the genes is given, along with the supposed connection to AD pathology.
ContributorsRichey, Alexandra Emmeline (Author) / Brafman, David (Thesis director) / Raman, Sreedevi (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This thesis aimed to develop a consistent protocol used to effectively image the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ε4 allele, which is a known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The research team used methods to extract DNA from saliva samples, amplify the DNA using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and image the results using gel electrophoresis and a transilluminator. Extensive literature review was used to optimize these techniques. Future studies will use these methods of characterizing the ApoE ε4 allele as preliminary work towards the goal of integrating this protocol into ongoing research in aging within the Motor Rehabilitation and Learning (MRL) Lab on Arizona State University’s campus.
ContributorsWorman, Drew (Author) / Schaefer, Sydney (Thesis director) / Lewis, Candace (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05