Introduction: Substantial data has shown that the lectican group of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans are involved in inhibition of axonal plasticity in response to injury in the central nervous system. Increasing evidence indicates that lecticans may also play a role in synaptic plasticity related to memory, especially associated with aging. A recent study has shown that lectican expression is elevated at a young age in the APPswe/PS1dE9 mouse model and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and hippocampal treatment with chondroitinase ABC reversed a loss of contextual fear memory and restored long-term potentiation. The purpose of this study was to examine the presence of a synaptic lectican in AD tissue, determine if amyloid-β (Aβ) binds to lecticans purified from brain tissue, and examine how treatment of the same AD model with chondroitinase ABC would influence plaque burden and the density of the synaptic marker synaptophysin around plaques.
Results: In human superior frontal gyrus, levels of the brain-specific lectican, brevican, were significantly elevated in AD compared to non-cognitively impaired subjects, with a trend toward an increase in tissue from subjects with mild cognitive impairment. In vitro immunoprecipitation studies showed that brevican binds to oligomeric and fibrillar Aβ1-42, and less so to monomeric Aβ1-42. Intrahippocampal injection of 15 months APPswe/PS1dE9 mice with chondroitinase ABC resulted in a reduction of Aβ burden in the stratum lacunosum moleculare and a reversal of the loss of synaptic density surrounding plaques in the same region.
Conclusions: It is possible that lecticans, particularly brevican, inhibit synaptic plasticity in this model of AD. Since the hippocampus undergoes changes in synaptic plasticity early in the disease process, it could be possible that removal of lecticans or inhibition of their signaling pathways could prolong plasticity in patients early in the disease process, and delay cognitive decline of AD progression.