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Bexarotene blocks calcium-permeable ion channels formed by neurotoxic Alzheimer's β-amyloid peptides.

ABSTRACT: The anticancer drug bexarotene has been shown to restore cognitive functions in animal models of Alzheimer's disease, but its exact mechanism of action remains elusive. In the present report, we have used a combination of molecular, physicochemical, and cellular approaches to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the anti-Alzheimer properties of bexarotene in neural cells. First of all, we noticed that bexarotene shares a structural analogy with cholesterol. We showed that cholesterol and bexarotene compete for the same binding site in the C-terminal region of Alzheimer's β-amyloid peptide 1-42 (Aβ1-42). This common bexarotene/cholesterol binding domain was characterized as a linear motif encompassing amino acid residues 25-35 of Aβ1-42. Because cholesterol is involved in the oligomerization of Alzheimer's β-amyloid peptides into neurotoxic amyloid channels, we studied the capability of bexarotene to interfere with this process. We showed that nanomolar concentrations of bexarotene efficiently prevented the cholesterol-dependent increase of calcium fluxes induced by β-amyloid peptides Aβ1-42 and Aβ25-35 in SH-SY5Y cells, suggesting a direct effect of the drug on amyloid channel formation. Molecular dynamics simulations gave structural insights into the role of cholesterol in amyloid channel formation and explained the inhibitory effect of bexarotene. Because it is the first drug that can both inhibit the binding of cholesterol to β-amyloid peptides and prevent calcium-permeable amyloid pore formation in the plasma membrane of neural cells, bexarotene might be considered as the prototype of a new class of anti-Alzheimer compounds. The experimental approach developed herein can be used as a screening strategy to identify such compounds.

SUBMITTER: Fantini J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4058752 | biostudies-other | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:Patch-clamp studies carried out on the tonoplast of the moss Physcomitrella patens point to existence of two types of cation-selective ion channels: slowly activated (SV channels), and fast-activated potassium-selective channels. Slowly and instantaneously saturating currents were observed in the whole-vacuole recordings made in the symmetrical KCl concentration and in the presence of Ca(2+) on both sides of the tonoplast. The reversal potential obtained at the KCl gradient (10 mM on the cytoplasmic side and 100 mM in the vacuole lumen) was close to the reversal potential for K(+) (E K), indicating K(+) selectivity. Recordings in cytoplasm-out patches revealed two distinct channel populations differing in conductance: 91.6 ± 0.9 pS (n = 14) at -80 mV and 44.7 ± 0.7 pS (n = 14) at +80 mV. When NaCl was used instead of KCl, clear slow vacuolar SV channel activity was observed both in whole-vacuole and cytoplasm-out membrane patches. There were no instantaneously saturating currents, which points to impermeability of fast-activated potassium channels to Na(+) and K(+) selectivity. In the symmetrical concentration of NaCl on both sides of the tonoplast, currents have been measured exclusively at positive voltages indicating Na(+) influx to the vacuole. Recordings with different concentrations of cytoplasmic and vacuolar Ca(2+) revealed that SV channel activity was regulated by both cytoplasmic and vacuolar calcium. While cytoplasmic Ca(2+) activated SV channels, vacuolar Ca(2+) inhibited their activity. Dependence of fast-activated potassium channels on the cytoplasmic Ca(2+) was also determined. These channels were active even without Ca(2+) (2 mM EGTA in the cytosol and the vacuole lumen), although their open probability significantly increased at 0.1 μM Ca(2+) on the cytoplasmic side. Apart from monovalent cations (K(+) and Na(+)), SV channels were permeable to divalent cations (Ca(2+) and Mg(2+)). Both monovalent and divalent cations passed through the channels in the same direction-from the cytoplasm to the vacuole. The identity of the vacuolar ion channels in Physcomitrella and ion channels already characterised in different plants is discussed.

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Bexarotene blocks calcium-permeable ion channels formed by neurotoxic Alzheimer's β-amyloid peptides.

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