Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/79261
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Type: Journal article
Title: The Guinea Pig as a model for sporadic Alzheimer's Disease (AD): the impact of cholesterol intake on expression of AD-related genes
Author: Sharman, M.
Moussavi Nik, S.
Chen, M.
Ong, D.
Wijaya, L.
Laws, S.
Taddei, K.
Newman, M.
Lardelli, M.
Martins, R.
Verdile, G.
Citation: PLoS One, 2013; 8(6):1-12
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Issue Date: 2013
ISSN: 1932-6203
1932-6203
Editor: Götz, J.
Statement of
Responsibility: 
Mathew J. Sharman, Seyyed H. Moussavi Nik, Mengqi M. Chen, Daniel Ong, Linda Wijaya, Simon M. Laws, Kevin Taddei, Morgan Newman, Michael Lardelli, Ralph N. Martins, Giuseppe Verdile
Abstract: We investigated the guinea pig, Cavia porcellus, as a model for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), both in terms of the conservation of genes involved in AD and the regulatory responses of these to a known AD risk factor - high cholesterol intake. Unlike rats and mice, guinea pigs possess an Aβ peptide sequence identical to human Aβ. Consistent with the commonality between cardiovascular and AD risk factors in humans, we saw that a high cholesterol diet leads to up-regulation of BACE1 (β-secretase) transcription and down-regulation of ADAM10 (α-secretase) transcription which should increase release of Aβ from APP. Significantly, guinea pigs possess isoforms of AD-related genes found in humans but not present in mice or rats. For example, we discovered that the truncated PS2V isoform of human PSEN2, that is found at raised levels in AD brains and that increases γ-secretase activity and Aβ synthesis, is not uniquely human or aberrant as previously believed. We show that PS2V formation is up-regulated by hypoxia and a high-cholesterol diet while, consistent with observations in humans, Aβ concentrations are raised in some brain regions but not others. Also like humans, but unlike mice, the guinea pig gene encoding tau, MAPT, encodes isoforms with both three and four microtubule binding domains, and cholesterol alters the ratio of these isoforms. We conclude that AD-related genes are highly conserved and more similar to human than the rat or mouse. Guinea pigs represent a superior rodent model for analysis of the impact of dietary factors such as cholesterol on the regulation of AD-related genes.
Keywords: Brain
Animals
Humans
Guinea Pigs
Mice
Rats
Alzheimer Disease
Disease Models, Animal
Cholesterol
Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor
Diet
Sequence Alignment
Gene Expression Regulation
Amino Acid Sequence
Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases
Presenilin-1
Presenilin-2
Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
Amyloid beta-Peptides
Description: Extent: 12p.
Rights: © 2013 Sharman et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0066235
Grant ID: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/453622
Published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0066235
Appears in Collections:Aurora harvest 4
Genetics publications

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