An enzyme involved in the formation of the amyloid-beta protein associated with Alzheimer's disease can also alter the mechanism by which signals are transmitted between brain cells, the disruption of which can cause seizures.
These findings from researchers at the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders (MGH-MIND) may explain the increased incidence of seizures in Alzheimer's patients and suggest that potential treatments that block this enzyme - called beta-secretase or BACE - may alleviate their occurrence. The report will appear in the journal Nature Cell Biology and is receiving early online release.
"We have found a molecular pathway by which BACE can modulate the activity of sodium channels on neuronal cell membranes," says study leader Dora Kovacs, PhD, director of the Neurobiology of Disease Laboratory in the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at MGH-MIND. "That implies that elevated BACE activity may be responsible for the seizures frequently observed in Alzheimer's patients."
Alzheimer's disease is characterized by plaques within the brain of the toxic amyloid-beta protein. Amyloid-beta is formed when the larger amyloid precursor protein (APP) is clipped by two enzymes , BACE and gamma-secretase , which releases the amyloid-beta fragment.
Signaling impulses in nerve cells are transmitted via voltage-gated sodium channels, structures on the cell membrane that transmit electrochemical signal by admitting charged sodium particles into the cell's interior. Sodium channels consist of an alpha subunit, which makes up the body of the channel, and one or two beta subunits that help to regulate the channels, activity.
Previous studies from Kovacs, team and others showed that the BACE and gamma-secretase enzymes that release amyloid-beta from APP also act on the beta2 subunit of neuronal sodium channels. The current study was designed to examine how this processing of the beta2 subunit may alter neuronal function.