Knockdown of amyloid precursor protein in zebrafish causes defects in motor axon outgrowth.

Amyloid precursor protein (APP) plays a pivotal role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis, but its normal physiological functions are less clear. Combined deletion of the APP and APP-like protein 2 (APLP2) genes in mice results in post-natal lethality, suggesting that APP performs an essent...

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Main Authors: Ping Song, Sanjay W Pimplikar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0034209&type=printable
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author Ping Song
Sanjay W Pimplikar
author_facet Ping Song
Sanjay W Pimplikar
author_sort Ping Song
collection DOAJ
description Amyloid precursor protein (APP) plays a pivotal role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis, but its normal physiological functions are less clear. Combined deletion of the APP and APP-like protein 2 (APLP2) genes in mice results in post-natal lethality, suggesting that APP performs an essential, if redundant, function during embryogenesis. We previously showed that injection of antisense morpholino to reduce APP levels in zebrafish embryos caused convergent-extension defects. Here we report that a reduction in APP levels causes defective axonal outgrowth of facial branchiomotor and spinal motor neurons, which involves disorganized axonal cytoskeletal elements. The defective outgrowth is caused in a cell-autonomous manner and both extracellular and intracellular domains of human APP are required to rescue the defective phenotype. Interestingly, wild-type human APP rescues the defective phenotype but APPswe mutation, which causes familial AD, does not. Our results show that the zebrafish model provides a powerful system to delineate APP functions in vivo and to study the biological effects of APP mutations.
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publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
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spelling doaj-art-dc32f3aa93074959a8cce912867dffa12025-08-20T02:43:54ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-0174e3420910.1371/journal.pone.0034209Knockdown of amyloid precursor protein in zebrafish causes defects in motor axon outgrowth.Ping SongSanjay W PimplikarAmyloid precursor protein (APP) plays a pivotal role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis, but its normal physiological functions are less clear. Combined deletion of the APP and APP-like protein 2 (APLP2) genes in mice results in post-natal lethality, suggesting that APP performs an essential, if redundant, function during embryogenesis. We previously showed that injection of antisense morpholino to reduce APP levels in zebrafish embryos caused convergent-extension defects. Here we report that a reduction in APP levels causes defective axonal outgrowth of facial branchiomotor and spinal motor neurons, which involves disorganized axonal cytoskeletal elements. The defective outgrowth is caused in a cell-autonomous manner and both extracellular and intracellular domains of human APP are required to rescue the defective phenotype. Interestingly, wild-type human APP rescues the defective phenotype but APPswe mutation, which causes familial AD, does not. Our results show that the zebrafish model provides a powerful system to delineate APP functions in vivo and to study the biological effects of APP mutations.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0034209&type=printable
spellingShingle Ping Song
Sanjay W Pimplikar
Knockdown of amyloid precursor protein in zebrafish causes defects in motor axon outgrowth.
PLoS ONE
title Knockdown of amyloid precursor protein in zebrafish causes defects in motor axon outgrowth.
title_full Knockdown of amyloid precursor protein in zebrafish causes defects in motor axon outgrowth.
title_fullStr Knockdown of amyloid precursor protein in zebrafish causes defects in motor axon outgrowth.
title_full_unstemmed Knockdown of amyloid precursor protein in zebrafish causes defects in motor axon outgrowth.
title_short Knockdown of amyloid precursor protein in zebrafish causes defects in motor axon outgrowth.
title_sort knockdown of amyloid precursor protein in zebrafish causes defects in motor axon outgrowth
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0034209&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT pingsong knockdownofamyloidprecursorproteininzebrafishcausesdefectsinmotoraxonoutgrowth
AT sanjaywpimplikar knockdownofamyloidprecursorproteininzebrafishcausesdefectsinmotoraxonoutgrowth