BETA-AMYLOID PEPTIDES INDUCE DEGENERATION OF CULTURED RAT MICROGLIA

Microglia are often associated with senile plaques, a primary pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) that consists largely of insoluble deposits of beta-amyloid (Abeta) protein. Synthetic Abeta peptides have been shown to induce neurite dystrophy and neuronal death in vitro when the peptides are assembled into aggregates. We now report that assembled Abeta peptides induce morphological evidence of degeneration in process-bearing microglia in vitro, as well as metabolic dysfunction in microglial cultures, but a non-assembling scrambled sequence Abeta peptide does not.