The Paper
L. Wu et al., “Human ApoE isoforms differentially modulate brain glucose and ketone body metabolism: Implications for Alzheimer’s disease risk reduction and early intervention,” J Neurosci, 38:6665–81, 2018.
Humans carry three different isoforms of the ApoE gene, which affects Alzheimer’s risk. Liqin Zhao of the University of Kansas and her colleagues previously found that the gene plays a role in brain metabolism when expressed in mice; in a new study, they looked for the pathways involved.
Zhao’s team engineered female mice to express the human versions of either ApoE2, ApoE3, or ApoE4, and analyzed expression of 43 genes involved in energy metabolism in their cortical tissue.
Mice with ApoE2 showed higher levels of proteins needed for glucose uptake and metabolism in their brains relative to animals harboring the most common isoform in humans, ApoE3. Mice with ApoE4 had lower levels of such proteins. The brain tissue’s glucose transport efficiency ...
