Dopamine, sleep, and neuronal excitability modulate amyloid-β-mediated forgetting in Drosophila

PLoS Biol. 2021 Oct 6;19(10):e3001412. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001412. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Alzheimer disease (AD) is one of the main causes of age-related dementia and neurodegeneration. However, the onset of the disease and the mechanisms causing cognitive defects are not well understood. Aggregation of amyloidogenic peptides is a pathological hallmark of AD and is assumed to be a central component of the molecular disease pathways. Pan-neuronal expression of Aβ42Arctic peptides in Drosophila melanogaster results in learning and memory defects. Surprisingly, targeted expression to the mushroom bodies, a center for olfactory memories in the fly brain, does not interfere with learning but accelerates forgetting. We show here that reducing neuronal excitability either by feeding Levetiracetam or silencing of neurons in the involved circuitry ameliorates the phenotype. Furthermore, inhibition of the Rac-regulated forgetting pathway could rescue the Aβ42Arctic-mediated accelerated forgetting phenotype. Similar effects are achieved by increasing sleep, a critical regulator of neuronal homeostasis. Our results provide a functional framework connecting forgetting signaling and sleep, which are critical for regulating neuronal excitability and homeostasis and are therefore a promising mechanism to modulate forgetting caused by toxic Aβ peptides.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / toxicity*
  • Animals
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Dopamine / metabolism*
  • Drosophila melanogaster / drug effects
  • Drosophila melanogaster / physiology*
  • Memory / drug effects
  • Memory / physiology*
  • Mushroom Bodies / drug effects
  • Mushroom Bodies / metabolism
  • Neurons / drug effects
  • Neurons / physiology*
  • Sleep / physiology*

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Dopamine

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant number 310030_188471; grant number CRSII5_180316) to SGS, the Novartis Foundation for Biomedical Research (grant number 18A017) to SGS and the Synapsis Foundation to SGS. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.