A new article, led by former postdoctoral fellow Dr. Ashley Bernardo, under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Prevot and Dr. Etienne Sibille is now available in the journal Neurobiology of Aging.
The article generated enthusiasm in the field, leading to media coverage at CAMH, but also on News Medical Life Science and others.
Article Abstract: Reduced somatostatin (SST) and SST-expressing GABAergic neurons are well-replicated findings in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and are associated with cognitive deficits. SST cells inhibit pyramidal cell dendrites through α5-GABA-A receptors (α5-GABAA-R). α5-GABAAR positive allosteric modulation (α5-PAM) has procognitive and neurotrophic effects in stress and aging models. We tested whether α5-PAM (GL-II-73) could prevent cognitive deficits and neuronal spine loss in early stages, and reverse them in late stages of β-amyloid deposition in the 5xFAD model (N = 48/study; 50 % female). Acute administration of GL-II-73 prevented spatial working memory deficits in 5xFAD mice at 2 months of age, while chronic administration reversed the deficits at 5 months of age. Chronic GL-II-73 treatment prevented 5xFAD-induced loss of spine density, spine count and dendritic length at both time points, despite β-amyloid accumulation. These results demonstrate procognitive and neurotrophic effects of GL-II-73 in early and late stages of Alzheimer-related β-amyloid deposition. This suggests α5-PAM as a novel β-amyloid-independent symptomatic therapeutic approach.
