| First Author | Knafo S | Year | 2009 |
| Journal | J Pathol | Volume | 219 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 41-51 |
| PubMed ID | 19449368 | Mgi Jnum | J:151904 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:4355500 | Doi | 10.1002/path.2565 |
| Citation | Knafo S, et al. (2009) Morphological alterations to neurons of the amygdala and impaired fear conditioning in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. J Pathol 219(1):41-51 |
| abstractText | Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) suffer from impaired memory and emotional disturbances, the pathogenesis of which is not entirely clear. In APP/PS1 transgenic mice, a model of AD in which amyloid beta (Abeta) accumulates in the brain, we have examined neurons in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA), a brain region crucial to establish cued fear conditioning. We found that although there was no neuronal loss in this region and Abeta plaques only occupy less than 1% of its volume, these mice froze for shorter times after auditory fear conditioning when compared to their non-transgenic littermates. We performed a three-dimensional analysis of projection neurons and of thousands of dendritic spines in the LA. We found changes in dendritic tree morphology and a substantial decrease in the frequency of large spines in plaque-free neurons of APP/PS1 mice. We suggest that these morphological changes in the neurons of the LA may contribute to the impaired auditory fear conditioning seen in this AD model. |
