Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry

Apoptosis is a form of cell death in which the cells shrink and exhibit nuclear chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation, and yet maintain membrane integrity. Many lines of evidence have shown that brain neurons are vulnerable to degeneration by apoptosis. Also it has been suggested that apoptosis is one of the mechanism contributing neuronal loss in Alzheimer’s disease(AD), since the conditions in the disease(Aβ peptide, oxidative stress, low energy metabolism) are the inducers that activate apoptosis. Indeed some neurons in vulnerable regions of the AD brain show DNA damage, chromatin condensation, and apoptic bodies. Consistently, mutations in AD causative genes(Amyloid precursor protein, Presenilin-1 and Presenilin-2) increase Aβ peptide_1-42(Aβ_1-42) and sensitize neuronal cell to apoposis. However, several lines of evidence have shown that the location of neuronal loss and Aβ peptide deposition is not correlated in AD brain and transgenic mice brain over-expressing Aβ_1-42. Taken together, these data may indicated that Aβ peptide(and other causative factors of AD) can interact with other cellular insults or risk factors to exacerbate pathological mechansim of AD through apoptosis. Thus, this review discusses possible role and mechanism of apoptosis in AD.

Keywords Apoptosis;Alzheimer’s disease;β-Amyloid protein;Amyloid precursor protein;Presenilin 1;Presenilin 2.