Primary cortical neurons form calcium-phosphate sheets with a bone-precursor-like ultrastructure.

ABSTRACT: Calcium-phosphate is a critical component in healthy bone and teeth formation, but its pathologic buildup in brain can occur in dyshomeostatic calcium disorders like Alzheimer's disease and Leigh syndrome. Extracellular calcium-phosphate in the nervous system is not well understood, but prior evidence suggests mitochondria as a potential source. Recently, large unidentified double-membrane-bound hyper-electron dense sheet aggregates of unknown content were reported in Huntington's disease model neurons using cryo-ET that were absent in wild-type control neurons. We use a combination of cryo-ET, cryo-CLEM, and LDSAED to demonstrate that these sheet aggregates are generated by wild-type cortical neurons isolated from embryonic day 18 rat embryos and have an octacalcium phosphate-like structu

SUBMITTER: Anderson ED 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12340797 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature