Synapse-specific IL-1 receptor subunit reconfiguration augments vulnerability to IL-1β in the aged hippocampus.

ABSTRACT: In the aged brain, synaptic plasticity and memory show increased vulnerability to impairment by the inflammatory cytokine interleukin 1β (IL-1β). In this study, we evaluated the possibility that synapses may directly undergo maladaptive changes with age that augment sensitivity to IL-1β impairment. In hippocampal neuronal cultures, IL-1β increased the expression of the IL-1 receptor type 1 and the accessory coreceptor AcP (proinflammatory), but not of the AcPb (prosurvival) subunit, a reconfiguration that potentiates the responsiveness of neurons to IL-1β. To evaluate whether synapses develop a similar heightened sensitivity to IL-1β with age, we used an assay to track long-term potentiation (LTP) in synaptosomes. We found that IL-1β impairs LTP directly at the synapse and that sensitivity

SUBMITTER: Prieto GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4568670 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature