One of the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the amyloid plaque deposition in aging brains by aggregation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides. In this study, the effect of chloroplast derived myelin basic protein (MBP) fused with cholera toxin subunit B (CTB) was investigated in advanced diseased stage of human and mouse AD brains. The CTB-fusion protein in chloroplasts facilitates transmucosal delivery in the gut by the natural binding ability of CTB pentameric form with GM1 receptors on the intestinal epithelium. Further, bioencapsulation of the MBP within plant cells confers protection from enzymes and acids in the digestive system. Here, 12-14 months old triple transgenic AD mice were fed with CTB-MBP bioencapsulated in the plant cells for 3 months. A reduction of 67.3% and 33.3% amyloid levels in hippocampal and cortical regions, respectively were observed by immunostaining of brain sections with anti- Aβ antibody. Similarly, 70% decrease in plaque number and 40% reduction of plaque intensity was observed through thioflavin S (ThS) staining that specifically stains amyloid in the AD brain. Furthermore, ex vivo 3xTg AD mice brain sections showed up to 45% reduction of ThS stained amyloid levels when incubated with enriched CTB-MBP in a concentration dependent manner. Similarly, incubation of enriched CTB-MBP with ex vivo postmortem human brain tissue sections with advanced stage of AD resulted up to 47% decrease of ThS stained amyloid plaque intensity. Lastly, lyophilization of plant material facilitates dehydration and long term storage of capsules at room temperature, in addition to increasing CTB-MBP concentration by 17 fold. These observations offer a low cost solution for treatment of even advanced stages of the AD by facilitating delivery of therapeutic proteins to central nervous system to address other neurodegenerative disease.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-3378 |
| Date | 01 January 2012 |
| Creators | Kohli, Neha |
| Publisher | University of Central Florida |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
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