Density of GABA Receptors Is Reduced in Granule Cells of the Hippocampus in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease.

Metabotropic γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors contribute to the control of network activity and information processing in hippocampal circuits by regulating neuronal excitability and synaptic transmission. The dysfunction in the dentate gyrus (DG) has been implicated in Alzheimer´s disease (AD). Given the involvement of GABA receptors in AD, to determine their subcellular localisation and possible alteration in granule cells of the DG in a mouse model of AD at 12 months of age, we used high-resolution immunoelectron microscopic analysis. Immunohistochemistry at the light microscopic level showed that the regional and cellular expression pattern of GABA was similar in an AD model mouse expressing mutated human amyloid precursor protein and presenilin1 (APP/PS1) and in age-matched wild type mice. High-resolution immunoelectron microscopy revealed a distance-dependent gradient of immunolabelling for GABA receptors, increasing from proximal to distal dendrites in both wild type and APP/PS1 mice. However, the overall density of GABA receptors at the neuronal surface of these postsynaptic compartments of granule cells was significantly reduced in APP/PS1 mice. Parallel to this reduction in surface receptors, we found a significant increase in GABA at cytoplasmic sites. GABA receptors were also detected at presynaptic sites in the molecular layer of the DG. We also found a decrease in plasma membrane GABA receptors in axon terminals contacting dendritic spines of granule cells, which was more pronounced in the outer than in the inner molecular layer. Altogether, our data showing post- and presynaptic reduction in surface GABA receptors in the DG suggest the alteration of the GABA-mediated modulation of excitability and synaptic transmission in granule cells, which may contribute to the cognitive dysfunctions in the APP/PS1 model of AD.