Neuroprotective actions of leptin facilitated through balancing mitochondrial morphology and improving mitochondrial function
Abstract
Mitochondrial dysfunction has a recognised role in the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathophysiology. Cerebral perfusion becomes increasingly inefficient throughout ageing, leading to unbalanced mitochondrial dynamics. This effect is exaggerated by amyloid β (Aβ) and phosphorylated tau, two hallmark proteins of AD pathology. A neuroprotective role for the adipose‐derived hormone, leptin, has been demonstrated in neuronal cells. However, its effects with relation to mitochondrial function in AD remain largely unknown. To address this question, we have used both a glucose‐serum deprived (CGSD) model of ischaemic stroke in SH‐SY5Y cells and a Aβ1‐42‐treatment model of AD in differentiated hippocampal cells. Using a combination of JC‐1 and MitoRed staining techniques, we show that leptin prevents depolarisation of the mitochondrial membrane and excessive mitochondrial fragmentation induced by both CGSD and Aβ1‐42. Thereafter, we used ELISAs and a number of activity assays to reveal the biochemical underpinnings of these processes. Specifically, leptin was seen to inhibit upregulation of the mitochondrial fission protein Fis1 and downregulation of the mitochondrial fusion protein, Mfn2. Furthermore, leptin was seen to upregulate the expression and activity of the antioxidant enzyme, monoamine oxidase B. Herein we provide the first demonstration that leptin is sufficient to protect against aberrant mitochondrial dynamics and resulting loss of function induced by both CGSD and Aβ1‐42. We conclude that the established neuroprotective actions of leptin may be facilitated through regulation of mitochondrial dynamics.
Citation
Cheng , Y , Buchan , M , Vitanova , K , Aitken , L , Gunn-Moore , F J , Ramsay , R R & Doherty , G 2020 , ' Neuroprotective actions of leptin facilitated through balancing mitochondrial morphology and improving mitochondrial function ' , Journal of Neurochemistry , vol. 155 , no. 2 , e15003 , pp. 191-206 . https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.15003
Publication
Journal of Neurochemistry
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0022-3042Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Neurochemistry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Society for Neurochemistry. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
Authors would like to acknowledge ARUK for supporting this research. YC is Chinese Scholarship recipient. The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland: No SC013532Collections
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