Manipulations of amyloid precursor protein cleavage disrupt the circadian clock in aging Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by severe cognitive deterioration. While causes of AD pathology are debated, a large body of evidence suggests that increased cleavage of Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) producing the neurotoxic Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide plays a fundamental role in AD pathogenesis. One of the detrimental behavioral symptoms commonly associated with AD is the fragmentation of sleep-activity cycles with increased nighttime activity and daytime naps in humans. Sleep-activity cycles, as well as physiological and cellular rhythms, which may be important for neuronal homeostasis, are generated by a molecular system known as the circadian clock. Links between AD and the circadian system are increasingly evident but not well understood. Here we exa

SUBMITTER: Blake MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4402283 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature