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Current Alzheimer Research

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1567-2050
ISSN (Online): 1875-5828

Research Article

Rescue of Hypovitaminosis A Induces Non-Amyloidogenic Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) Processing

Author(s): Sven Reinhardt, Marcus O.W. Grimm, Christoph Stahlmann, Tobias Hartmann, Koichi Shudo, Taisuke Tomita and Kristina Endres

Volume 13, Issue 11, 2016

Page: [1277 - 1289] Pages: 13

DOI: 10.2174/1567205013666160603002105

Price: $65

Abstract

Retinoic acid, the bioactive metabolite of beta-carotene or vitamin A, plays a pleiotropic, multifunctional role in vertebrate development. Studies in rodents revealed that a diet deficient in vitamin A results in a complex neonatal syndrome (the VAD syndrome), manifested in many organs. In humans, the function of retinoic acid (RA) extends into adulthood, where it has important roles in fertility, vision, and suppression of neoplastic growth. In recent years, it has also been suggested that retinoic acid might potentially act as a therapeutically relevant drug in attenuating or even preventing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Here, we report that VAD leads to an increase in A-beta peptide levels while only minor effects were observed on expression levels of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing proteinases in wild type mice. In line with these findings, rescue of hypovitaminosis reduced A-beta amount to baseline and induced sApp-alpha secretion in combination with an increase of alpha-secretase Adam10. By comparing retinoic acid treatment starting from a full nutrition status and a “VAD” situation in human neuroblastoma cells, we show that while intensities of differential gene expression were higher in replenished cells, a large overlap in AD-related, regulated genes was observed. Our data suggest that hypovitaminosis A can contribute to onset or progression of AD by increasing synthesis of A-beta peptides and that several AD-related genes such as ADAM10 or BDNF are regulated by retinoic acid. We suggest that dietary supplementation with retinoic acid derivatives is likely to have a beneficial effect on AD-pathology in individuals with hypovitaminosis and patients with normal vitamin A status.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, A-beta peptides, alpha-secretase, nuclear receptor, retinoic acid, shedding, vitamin A.


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