Morphological alterations to neurons of the amygdala and impaired fear conditioning in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Full Abstract

Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) suffer from impaired memory and emotional disturbances, the pathogenesis of which is not entirely clear. In APP/PS1 transgenic mice, a model of AD in which amyloid beta (Abeta) accumulates in the brain, we have examined neurons in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA), a brain region crucial to establish cued fear conditioning. We found that although there was no neuronal loss in this region and Abeta plaques only occupy less than 1% of its volume, these mice froze for shorter times after auditory fear conditioning when compared to their non-transgenic littermates. We performed a three-dimensional analysis of projection neurons and of thousands of dendritic spines in the LA. We found changes in dendritic tree morphology and a substantial decrease in the frequency of large spines in plaque-free neurons of APP/PS1 mice. We suggest that these morphological changes in the neurons of the LA may contribute to the impaired auditory fear conditioning seen in this AD model.

Author information

Author/s: Knafo, Shira (S); Venero, Cesar (C); Merino-Serrais, Paula (P); Fernaud-Espinosa, Isabel (I); Gonzalez-Soriano, Juncal (J); Ferrer, Isidro (I); Santpere, Gabriel (G); DeFelipe, Javier (J);

Affiliation: Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The Journal of pathology (J Pathol), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 219 (issue 1) : pp 41-51

Dates: Created 2009/08/13; Completed 2009/10/09;

PMID: 19449368, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/9/2009, IMS Date: )

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