Perturbed mitochondria-ER contacts in live neurons that model the amyloid pathology of Alzheimer's disease

MARTINO ADAMI, PAMELA V.; BARTOK, ADAM; DO CARMO, SONIA; HAJNÓCZKY, GYÖRGY; WEAVER, DAVID B.; JONES, DREW R.; CUELLO, A CLAUDIO; NICHTOVÁ, ZUZANA; WISNIEWSKI, THOMAS; CASTAÑO, EDUARDO M.; MORELLI, LAURA

Journal of cell science

NLM (Medline)

Año: 2019 vol. 132

The use of fixed fibroblasts from familial and sporadic Alzheimer´s disease patients has previously indicated an upregulation of mitochondria-ER contacts (MERCs) as a hallmark of Alzheimer´s disease. Despite its potential significance, the relevance of these results is limited because they were not extended to live neurons. Here we performed a dynamic in vivo analysis of MERCs in hippocampal neurons from McGill-R-Thy1-APP transgenic rats, a model of Alzheimer´s disease-like amyloid pathology. Live FRET imaging of neurons from transgenic rats revealed perturbed ´lipid-MERCs´ (gap width