Presymptomatic Alterations in Amino Acid Metabolism and DNA Methylation in the Cerebellum of a Murine Model of Niemann-Pick Type C Disease.

Presymptomatic Alterations in Amino Acid Metabolism and DNA Methylation in the Cerebellum of a Murine Model of Niemann-Pick Type C Disease. Am J Pathol. 2016 Apr 12; Authors: Kennedy BE, Hundert AS, Goguen D, Weaver IC, Karten B Abstract The fatal neurodegenerative disorder Niemann-Pick type C (NPC) is caused in most cases by mutations in NPC1, which encodes the late endosomal NPC1 protein. Loss of NPC1 disrupts cholesterol trafficking from late endosomes to the endoplasmic reticulum and plasma membrane, causing cholesterol accumulation in late endosomes/lysosomes. Neurons are particularly vulnerable to this cholesterol trafficking defect, but the pathogenic mechanisms through which NPC1 deficiency causes neuronal dysfunction remain largely unknown. Herein, we have investigated amino acid metabolism in cerebella of NPC1-deficient mice at different stages of NPC disease. Imbalances in amino acid metabolism were evident from increased branched chain amino acid and asparagine levels and altered expression of key enzymes of glutamine/glutamate metabolism in presymptomatic and early symptomatic NPC1-deficient cerebellum. Increased levels of several amino acid intermediates of one-carbon metabolism indicated disturbances in folate and methylation pathways. Alterations in DNA methylation were apparent in decreased expression of DNA methyltransferase 3a and methyl-5'-cytosine-phosphodiester-guanine-domain binding proteins, reduced 5-methylcy...
Source: The American Journal of Pathology - Category: Pathology Authors: Tags: Am J Pathol Source Type: research