Ionic effects of the Alzheimer's disease β-amyloid precursor protein and its metabolic fragments

• Published in: Trends in neurosciences (Regular ed.) Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 67 - 72
• Main Authors: Fraser, S.P, Suh, Y-H, Djamgoz, M.B.A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.02.1997; Elsevier Science; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Alzheimer Disease - metabolism; Alzheimer's disease; Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor - metabolism; b-amyloid; b-amylois precursor protien; Biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; c-terminal fragment; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Humans; ion channels; Ion Channels - drug effects; Ion Channels - metabolism; ionic activity; Medical sciences; Neurology; Proteins; b-amylois precursor protien; c-terminal fragment; Alzheimer's disease; ion channels; ionic activity; b-amyloid; Human; Nervous system diseases; Pathophysiology; Alzheimer disease; Metabolite; Homeostasis; Cytotoxicity; Ions; Ionic channel; Review; Amyloid precursor protein; Cerebral disorder; β Amyloid protein; Central nervous system disease; Degenerative disease; Biological accumulation
• ISSN: 0166-2236; 1878-108X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0166-2236(96)10079-5

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive dementia characterized in part by deposition of proteinaceous plaques in various areas of the brain. The main plaque protein component is β-amyloid, a metabolic product of the β-amyloid precursor protein. Substantial evidence has implicated β-amyloid (and other amyloidogenic fragments of the precursor protein) with the neurodegeneration observed in Alzheimer's disease. Recently, β-amyloid precursor protein and its amyloidogenic metabolic fragments have been shown to alter cellular ionic activity, either through interaction with existing channels or by de novo channel formation. Such alteration in ionic homeostasis has also been linked with cellular toxicity and might provide a molecular mechanism underlying the neurodegeneration seen in Alzheimer's disease.