Effects of calorie restriction on amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Calorie restriction (CR) has been shown to be a notable strategy for extending the lifespan of various organisms from yeast to rodents and attenuating the process of aging with neuroprotection. One of the key factors in the progressive pathology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the overproduction of intracellular Amyloid-β (Aβ) that is produced by several proteolytic cleavages of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). In this study, we hypothesized that CR might attenuate the pathological process of neurodegeneration in in vivo AD mouse model. We determined that CR increased the activity of enzyme related to energy metabolism in the hippocampus of Tg6799 AD mice. The activity of mitochondria complex IV was significantly increased by CR in Tg6799 AD mice. We also determined that CR significantly decreased the level of full-length APP in the hippocampus of littermates mice. These data suggest that CR can be applied for future therapy in AD patients.