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Alzheimer's disease, APOE genotype, cholesterol, glycerophospholipids, lipidomics, sphingolipids

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy （CAA） is increasingly recognized as a major contributor of Alzheimer’s disease（ AD） pathogenesis. To date, vascular deposits and not parenchymal plaques appear more sensitive predictors of dementia. Amyloid deposition in and around cerebral blood vessels plays a central role in a series of response mechanisms that lead to changes in the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, extravasations of plasma proteins, edema formation, release of inflammatory mediators and matrix metalloproteases which, in turn, produce partial degradation of the basal lamina with the potential to develop hemorrhagic complications. The progressive buildup of amyloid deposits in and around blood vessels chronically limits blood supply and causes focal deprivation of oxygen, triggering a secondary cascade of metabolic events several of which involve the generation of nitrogen and oxygen free radicals with consequent oxidative stress and cell toxicity. Many aspects of CAA in early- and lateonset AD ‒the special preference of Aβ40 to deposit in the vessel walls, the favored vascular compromise associated with many Aβ genetic variants, the puzzling observation that some of these vasculotropic variants solely manifest with recurrent hemorrhagic episodes while others are mainly associated with dementia‒ await clarifi cation. Non-Aβ cerebral amyloidoses reinforce the viewpoint that plaque burden is not indicative of dementia while highlighting the relevance of non-fi brillar lesions and vascular involvement in the disease pathogenesis. The lessons learned from the comparative study of Aβ and non-Aβ cerebral amyloidosis provide new avenues and alternative models to study the role of amyloid in the molecular basis of neurodegeneration.

Neprilysin (NEP) is a zinc metalloproteinase that degrades enkephalins, endothelins, and the Alzheimer’s disease amyloid ß (Aß) peptides. NEP-deficient mice possess increased levels of brain Aß1-40 and Aß1-42. The objective of this study was to determine whether tissue NEP specific activity differs according to age and/or across mouse strains, especially those strains predisposed toward formation of Aß-amyloid plaques following overexpression of the human Alzheimer amyloid precursor protein (APP). The C57Bl/6J mouse strain appears to be relatively susceptible to cerebral amyloidosis, whereas the Swiss Webster (SW) strain appears more resistant. We investigated whether NEP specific activity in brain and kidney homogenates from SW and C57 mice of 6, 40, and 80 weeks old varied according to mouse strain, age, and gender. Among the variables tested, NEP specific activity varied most dramatically across mouse strain, with the kidney and brain of SW mice displaying the highest activities. Aging was associated with a reduction in brain NEP specific activity in both trains. Gender-specific differences were identified in kidney but not in brain. We conclude that aging- and strain-dependent ifferences in NEP specific activity may play a role in the differential susceptibility of some mouse strains for developing cerebral amyloidosis following human APP overexpression.