Abstract
(1) Presenilin (PS) expression is regulated by several cellular and extracellular factors which change with age and sex. Both age and sex are key risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is linked to mutations in PS genes. (2) We have analyzed the effect of age and sex on PS expression by northern hybridization and western blot analysis using the cerebral cortex of adult (24 ± 2 weeks) and old (65 ± 5 weeks) mice. (3) Our results demonstrate that PS1 was downregulated and PS 2 was upregulated in old mice of both sexes. The level of PS 1 was relatively higher and that of PS 2 was lower in female than male mice of same age group. Taken together, these findings show age and sex dependent alteration in PS expression, which in turn may influence the signal transduction pathways and consequently brain functions.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Bart de Strooper (Belgium) for the generous gift of PS1 and PS2 cDNA constructs, Sam Gandy (Philadelphia, USA) for PS1 antiserum, and Helmut Jacobsen (Basel, Switzerland) for PS2 antiserum. This work was supported by a research fellowship from the University Grants commission to SG, and grants from the Department of Biotechnology (P-07/311/2004) and Department of Science and Technology (P-07/317/2005), Government of India, to MKT.
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Thakur, M.K., Ghosh, S. Age and Sex Dependent Alteration in Presenilin Expression in Mouse Cerebral Cortex. Cell Mol Neurobiol 27, 1059–1067 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-007-9214-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-007-9214-5