The Ewha Medical Journal
Ewha Womans University School of Medicine
Original Article

Neurotoxic Effect of β-Amyloid Peptide in Hippocampal Slice Culture

Jung Sun Park, Mi Sun Jo, Yeon Joo Jung, Kyung Eun Lee

Copyright ⓒ 2003. Ewha Womans University School of Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Jun 30, 2003

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease(AD) is primarily characterized by neurofibrillary tangles, senile plaques, and neurodegeneration. The major component of senile plaques is the beta-amyloid peptide(A β), Which is considered to have a causal role in AD. However, the biological activities of Aβ in AD has not been clearly defined. In this study we have investigated the effects of Aβ 25-35 fragment to neurons using organotypic hippocampal slice culture system which maintained intact hippocampal synaptic circuit and anatomy. Hippocampal slice culture is prepared from rat postnatal 10-old days and after 14 days culture, slices were treated with 10uM Aβ 25-35 fragment. Neuronal death was measured with propidium iodide(PI) uptake and NeuN, neuronal marker, staining. After treatment of Aβ 25-35 fragment for 3days or 7days on hippocampal slice culture, we observed the increased PI uptake and the decreased number of NeuN-stained neuron in CA1 region of hippocampal pyramidal layer or dentate gyrus. These results suggested that Aβ 25-35 fragment exerts the neurotoxicity in hippocampal slice culture.

Keywords: Beta-Amyloid peptide; Neurotoxicity; Hippocampal slice culture