PR002160 (Project)

Description:Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, affecting approximately 47M people worldwide. Histological features and genetic risk factors, among other evidence, supported the amyloid hypothesis of the disease. This neuronocentric paradigm is currently undergoing a shift, considering evidence of the role of other cell types, such as microglia and astrocytes, in disease progression. Previously, we described a particular astrocyte subtype obtained from the 3xTg-AD murine model that displays neurotoxic properties in vitro. We continue here our exploratory analysis through the lens of metabolomics to identify potentially altered metabolites and biological pathways. Cell extracts from neurotoxic and control astrocytes were compared using HRMS-based metabolomics. Around 12% of metabolic features demonstrated significant differences between neurotoxic and control astrocytes, including alterations in the key metabolite glutamate. Consistent with our previous transcriptomic study, the present results illustrate many homeostatic and regulatory functions of metabolites, suggesting that neurotoxic 3xTg-AD astrocytes exhibit alterations in the Krebs cycle as well as the prostaglandin pathway. This is the first metabolomic study performed in 3xTg-AD neurotoxic astrocytes. These results provide insight into metabolic alterations potentially associated with neurotoxicity and pathology progression in the 3xTg-AD mouse model and strengthen the therapeutic potential of astrocytes in AD.