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Caspase-Cleaved Tau Impairs Mitochondrial Dynamics in Alzheimer’s Disease

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Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by the presence of aggregates of tau protein. Tau truncated by caspase-3 (D421) or tau hyperphosphorylated at Ser396/S404 might play a role in the pathogenesis of AD. Mitochondria are dynamic organelles that modify their size and function through mitochondrial dynamics. Recent studies have shown that alterations of mitochondrial dynamics affect synaptic communication. Therefore, we studied the effects of pathological forms of tau on the regulation of mitochondrial dynamics. We used primary cortical neurons from tau(−/−) knockout mice and immortalized cortical neurons (CN1.4) that were transfected with plasmids containing green fluorescent protein (GFP) or GFP with different tau forms: full-length (GFP-T4), truncated (GFP-T4C3), pseudophosphorylated (GFP-T42EC), or both truncated and pseudophosphorylated modifications of tau (GFP-T4C3-2EC). Cells expressing truncated tau showed fragmented mitochondria compared to cells that expressed full-length tau. These findings were corroborated using primary neurons from tau(−/−) knockout mice that expressed the truncated and both truncated and pseudophosphorylated forms of tau. Interestingly, mitochondrial fragmentation was accompanied by a significant reduction in levels of optic atrophy protein 1 (Opa1) in cells expressing the truncated form of tau. In addition, treatment with low concentrations of amyloid-beta (Aβ) significantly reduced mitochondrial membrane potential, cell viability, and mitochondrial length in cortical cells and primary neurons from tau(−/−) mice that express truncated tau. These results indicate that the presence of tau pathology impairs mitochondrial dynamics by reducing Opa1 levels, an event that could lead to mitochondrial impairment observed in AD.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by FONDECYT #1140968 and Anillo ACT1411 (RAQ).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, El Llano Subercaseaux 2801 5to Piso, San Miguel, 8910000, Santiago, Chile

    María José Pérez, Katiana Vergara-Pulgar, Claudia Jara, Fabian Cabezas-Opazo & Rodrigo A. Quintanilla

  2. Centro de Investigación y Estudio del Consumo de Alcohol en Adolescentes (CIAA), Santiago, Chile

    Rodrigo A. Quintanilla

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  1. María José Pérez
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  2. Katiana Vergara-Pulgar
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  4. Fabian Cabezas-Opazo
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  5. Rodrigo A. Quintanilla
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Correspondence to Rodrigo A. Quintanilla.

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María José Pérez and Katiana Vergara-Pulgar contributed equally to this work.

Electronic supplementary material

Figure supplementary 1

Caspase-cleaved tau expression did not affect pDrp1 and Mfn1 regulation in immortalized cortical neurons. (A) CN1.4 cells were transfected with GFP and tau constructs [GFP-T4, GFP-T42EC, GFP-T4C3, and GFP-T4C3-2EC] to determine the expression of pDrp1 using anti-pDrp1 antibody that detects Drp1 phosphorylation at S616. Representative western blot analysis from 3 independent experiments that show no significant differences in Drp1 activation by the presence of tau pathology. (B) Representative western blot image from 3 experiments of Mfn1 expression in CN1.4 cells transfected with pathological forms of tau. As well as, Mfn2, Mfn1 levels were not affected by the presence of tau pathology in these cells. In both western blot analysis the levels of β-actin were evaluated as a loading control. (GIF 857 kb)

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Figure supplementary 2

Expression levels of Drp1 and Mfn2 in CN 1.4 cells transfected with pathological forms of tau. (A), (B) are representative western blots images from CN 1.4 cells transfected with GFP and GFP-tau forms in where the levels of total Drp1 and Mfn2 were evaluated. Images includes molecular weight standard to corroborate Drp1 and Mnf2 expression in CN 1.4 cells. β-actin levels were evaluated as a loading control. Images are representative of 4 independent experiments. (GIF 918 kb)

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Pérez, M.J., Vergara-Pulgar, K., Jara, C. et al. Caspase-Cleaved Tau Impairs Mitochondrial Dynamics in Alzheimer’s Disease. Mol Neurobiol 55, 1004–1018 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-017-0385-x

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