Neurodegeneration changes in primary central nervous system neurons transfected with the Alzheimer-associated neuronal thread protein gene

The AD7c-NTP gene is over-expressed in brains with Alzheimer's disease (PLD ), and increased levels of the corresponding protein are detectable in cort ical neurons, brain tissue extracts, cerebrospinal fluid, and urine beginni ng early in the course of AD neurodegeneration. In the present study, we ut ilized a novel method to transfect post-mitotic primary neuronal cell cultu res, and demonstrated that over-expression of the AD7c-NTP gene causes cell death and neuritic sprouting, two prominent abnormalities associated with PLD. These results provide further evidence that aberrantly increased AD7c- NTP expression may have a role in AD-type neurodegeneration. In addition, w e demonstrate that primary post-mitotic neurons can be efficiently transfec ted with conventional recombinant plasmid DNA to evaluate the effects of ge ne over-expression in relevant in vitro models.