Dear All,

On Thursday, December 10^th, at 3pm, Adrianna Wysocka-Marijnissen, who is a PhD student working at the Laboratory of Preclinical Testing of Higher Standard, under the supervision of prof. Grażyna Niewiadomska, will give a lecture entitled: The impaired brain cholinergic system in Alzheimer's disease-like model (tauopathic L1 mice).

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder associated with memory impairment and, over time, an inability to carry out activities of daily living. Due to unknown mechanisms of pathological changes, there are no treatments to prevent the development of the disease. The drugs used in the clinic only slow down the symptoms in the initial stages of the disease. AD is a tauopathy characterized by the presence of abnormal forms of the tau protein in the neurons in the form of insoluble aggregated paired helical filaments (PHF) and neurofibrillar tangles (NFT). However, there is growing evidence that the soluble tau oligomers are the toxic species.

Current research was focused on the hypothesis that cholinergic neurons are especially vulnerable to degeneration caused by tau pathology. The study used a transgenic mouse model L1 that expresses truncated tau consisting of the PHF core residues. Immunohistochemical staining showed a reduced number of cholinergic neurons in the structures of the basal forebrain, in which acetylcholine is synthesized. Moreover, the function of the cholinergic system was impaired in the cortex and hippocampus, sites of the ascending cholinergic projection. Additionally,  L1 mice showed an accumulation of tau protein predominantly in the axonal compartment of cortical, hippocampal and basal forebrain neurons. Preliminary results also suggest an increase in the tau oligomers level and a possible binding of tau oligomers to M1 receptors, which may lead to disturbances in M1 signaling. Interestingly, it appears that in L1 mice the tau oligomers are not only located in the cytoplasm but also in the nucleus, which was not found in wild-type mice. This may indicate that the tauopathy induced in the L1 model causes much more extensive neuronal impairment than just a dysfunction of the cholinergic system.

We will use zoom, here is the link:

https://zoom.us/j/91262243656?pwd=eUt5WGg1OHlrb1NuV0RQQmtPRUl2Zz09
Meeting ID: 912 6224 3656
Passcode: 485625
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Best wishes
Aleksandra Pękowska