| First Author | Carvalho K | Year | 2019 |
| Journal | Brain | Volume | 142 |
| Issue | 11 | Pages | 3636-3654 |
| PubMed ID | 31599329 | Mgi Jnum | J:293638 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6453093 | Doi | 10.1093/brain/awz288 |
| Citation | Carvalho K, et al. (2019) Exacerbation of C1q dysregulation, synaptic loss and memory deficits in tau pathology linked to neuronal adenosine A2A receptor. Brain 142(11):3636-3654 |
| abstractText | Accumulating data support the role of tau pathology in cognitive decline in ageing and Alzheimer's disease, but underlying mechanisms remain ill-defined. Interestingly, ageing and Alzheimer's disease have been associated with an abnormal upregulation of adenosine A2A receptor (A2AR), a fine tuner of synaptic plasticity. However, the link between A2AR signalling and tau pathology has remained largely unexplored. In the present study, we report for the first time a significant upregulation of A2AR in patients suffering from frontotemporal lobar degeneration with the MAPT P301L mutation. To model these alterations, we induced neuronal A2AR upregulation in a tauopathy mouse model (THY-Tau22) using a new conditional strain allowing forebrain overexpression of the receptor. We found that neuronal A2AR upregulation increases tau hyperphosphorylation, potentiating the onset of tau-induced memory deficits. This detrimental effect was linked to a singular microglial signature as revealed by RNA sequencing analysis. In particular, we found that A2AR overexpression in THY-Tau22 mice led to the hippocampal upregulation of C1q complement protein-also observed in patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration-and correlated with the loss of glutamatergic synapses, likely underlying the observed memory deficits. These data reveal a key impact of overactive neuronal A2AR in the onset of synaptic loss in tauopathies, paving the way for new therapeutic approaches. |
