Aberrant Expression of the Glutamate Transporter Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 1 (EAAT1) in Alzheimer's Disease

Glutamate-mediated toxicity has been implicated in the neurodegeneration observed in Alzheimer's disease. In particular, glutamate transport dysfunction may increase susceptibility to glutamate toxicity, thereby contributing to neuronal cell injury and death. In this study, we examined the cell...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of neuroscience 2002-02, Vol.22 (3), p.206-RC206
Main Authors: Scott, Heather L, Pow, David V, Tannenberg, Anthony E. G, Dodd, Peter R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Alzheimer Disease - etiology
Alzheimer Disease - metabolism
Alzheimer Disease - pathology
Biomarkers - analysis
Cerebral Cortex - metabolism
Cerebral Cortex - pathology
Dementia, Multi-Infarct - metabolism
Dementia, Multi-Infarct - pathology
Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 1 - analysis
Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 1 - biosynthesis
Female
Humans
Immunohistochemistry
Lewy Body Disease - metabolism
Lewy Body Disease - pathology
Male
Middle Aged
Neurofibrillary Tangles - pathology
Parkinson Disease - metabolism
Parkinson Disease - pathology
Pyramidal Cells - metabolism
Pyramidal Cells - pathology
Rapid Communication
tau Proteins - analysis
tau Proteins - biosynthesis
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Summary:Glutamate-mediated toxicity has been implicated in the neurodegeneration observed in Alzheimer's disease. In particular, glutamate transport dysfunction may increase susceptibility to glutamate toxicity, thereby contributing to neuronal cell injury and death. In this study, we examined the cellular localization of the glial glutamate transporter excitatory amino acid transporter 1 (EAAT1) in the cerebral cortex of control, Alzheimer's disease, and non-Alzheimer dementia cases. We found that EAAT1 was strongly expressed in a subset of cortical pyramidal neurons in dementia cases showing Alzheimer-type pathology. In addition, tau (which is a marker of neurofibrillary pathology) colocalized to those same pyramidal cells that expressed EAAT1. These findings suggest that EAAT1 changes are related to tau expression (and hence neurofibrillary tangle formation) in dementia cases showing Alzheimer-type pathology. This study implicates aberrant glutamate transporter expression as a mechanism involved in neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease.
ISSN:0270-6474
1529-2401
DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.22-03-j0004.2002