The International Journal of Developmental Biology

Int. J. Dev. Biol. 45: S73 - S74 (2001)

Vol 45, Issue S1

Developmental spatiotemporal expression of Alzheimer beta APP isoforms in the chick embryo

Published: 1 June 2001

L Dominguez, V Garza, AM Lacosta, V Sorribas, M Sarasa

Univ Zaragoza, Neurobiol Lab, E-50013 Zaragoza, Spain

Abstract

The beta -amyloid precursor proteins (beta APPs) are a group of glycoproteins that result from the alternative splicing of a single primary transcript. They contain in their sequences the beta -amyloid peptide (beta A4), the principal component of the cerebral amyloid plaques found in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Using antibodies recognizing different regions of the major beta APPs,we have analysed by immunohistochemistry their spatiotemporal expression during chick embryogenesis. We have observed that the beta APP isoforms containing the Kunitz protease inhibitor domain (beta APP-KPI) have a more widespread distribution than the isoforms lacking this domain. Also, differential patterns of expression between both types of isoforms were detected in many embryonic tissues, including the floor and roof plates of the neural tube, and sites of active axogenesis in the dorsal diencephalon and mesencephalon. An antibody that recognizes the C-terminal sequence of beta A4 did not display immunoreaction until a relatively late phase of embryogenesis, the 8 day of incubation. These observations suggest that the chick embryo may be a simple and useful model for the analysis of beta APP processing and function.

Keywords

Amyloid precursor protein

Full text in web format is not available for this article. Please download the PDF version.