Molecular changes in brain aging and Alzheimer's disease are mirrored in experimentally silenced cortical neuron networks.

ABSTRACT: Activity-dependent modulation of neuronal gene expression promotes neuronal survival and plasticity, and neuronal network activity is perturbed in aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here we show that cerebral cortical neurons respond to chronic suppression of excitability by downregulating the expression of genes and their encoded proteins involved in inhibitory transmission (GABAergic and somatostatin) and Ca(2+) signaling; alterations in pathways involved in lipid metabolism and energy management are also features of silenced neuronal networks. A molecular fingerprint strikingly similar to that of diminished network activity occurs in the human brain during aging and in AD, and opposite changes occur in response to activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and brain-derived neurotrophic

SUBMITTER: Gleichmann M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3027841 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature