[대학원 생명과학과 세미나 안내]
연사 : 호원경 교수(서울대학교 자연대학 뇌인지과학과/의과대학 생리학교실)
연제 : Dysregulation of Kv4.1, hyperexcitable dentate gyrus, and impaired pattern separation in Alzheimer model mice
일시 : 2021년 11월 12일 (금) 오후 5시
장소 : 대면(109호 회의실) 및 온라인 화상 강의로 진행됩니다.
초청교수 : 백자현 교수
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that causes memory loss. Most AD researches have focused on neurodegeneration mechanisms. Considering that neurodegenerative changes are not reversible, understanding early functional changes before neurodegeneration is critical to develop new strategies for early detection and treatment of AD. We found that Tg2576 mice exhibited impaired pattern separation at the early preclinical stage. Based on previous studies suggesting a critical role of dentate gyrus (DG) in pattern separation, we investigated functional changes in DG of Tg2576 mice. We found that granule cells in DG (DG GCs) in Tg2576 mice showed increased action potential firing in response to long depolarizations and reduced 4 AP sensitive K+ currents compared to DG GCs in wild type (WT) mice. Among Kv4 family channels, Kv4.1 mRNA expression in DG was significantly lower in Tg2576 mice. We confirmed that Kv4.1 protein expression was reduced in Tg2576, and this reduction was restored by antioxidant treatment. Hyperexcitable DG and impaired pattern separation in Tg2576 mice were also recovered by antioxidant treatment. These results highlight the hyperexcitability of DG GCs as a pathophysiologic mechanism underlying early cognitive deficits in AD and Kv4.1 as a new target for AD pathogenesis in relation to increased oxidative stress.