Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
Open Access

Research Article

SIRT1 Protects Dendrites, Mitochondria and Synapses from Aβ Oligomers in Hippocampal Neurons

Juan A Godoy¹, Claudio Allard¹, Macarena S Arrázola¹, Juan M Zolezzi² and Nibaldo C Inestrosa^1*

¹Centro de Envejecimiento y Regeneración (CARE); Departamento de Biología Celular, Molecular; Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

²Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile

Corresponding Author:

Nibaldo C Inestrosa
CARE, Biomedical Research Center
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Av. Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile
Tel: +(56)-2-6862724
Fax: +(56)-2-6862959
E-mail: ninestrosa@bio.puc.cl

Received date: September 04, 2013; Accepted date: October 15, 2013; Published date: October 25, 2013

Citation: Godoy JA, Allard C, Arrázola MS, Zolezzi JM, Inestrosa NC (2013) SIRT1 Protects Dendrites, Mitochondria and Synapses from Aβ Oligomers in Hippocampal Neurons. J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 3:126. doi: 10.4172/2161-0460.1000126

Copyright: © 2013 Godoy JA, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Aging is a major risk factor in the onset of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). SIRT1, a β-NAD+-dependent histone deacetylase activity, holds great potential for promoting longevity, preventing against disease and increasing cell survival. We report here, that SIRT1 protects against the damage caused by Aβ oligomers at the level of synaptic contacts, dendritic branching and mitochondrial structure in cultured rat hippocampal neurons. Neurons overexpressing SIRT1 showed increased synaptic contacts, dendritic branching and preserved mitochondrial morphology, suggesting the prevention of the Aβ oligomer-mediated neurodegeneration. Such effects were not observed in neurons overexpressing a dominant negative form of SIRT1. The potential underlying signaling pathways involved in the SIRT1 neuroprotective mechanism are discussed in the context of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), peroxisome proliferator activated receptor co-activator 1α (PGC-1α), mTOR, and the Wnt signaling pathway. Our results suggest that SIRT1 modulation might well be a therapeutic agent to protect against neurodegenerative diseases, like AD.

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