Amyloid beta -peptide inhibition of the PKA/CREB pathway and long-term potentiation: reversibility by drugs that enhance cAMP signaling.

Changes in hippocampal function seem critical for cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although there is eventual loss of synapses in both AD and animal models of AD, deficits in spatial memory and inhibition of long-term potentiation (LTP) precede morphological alterations in the models, suggesting earlier biochemical changes in the disease. In the studies reported here we demonstrate that amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta) treatment of cultured hippocampal neurons leads to the inactivation of protein kinase A (PKA) and persistence of its regulatory subunit PKAIIalpha. Consistent with this, CREB phosphorylation in response to glutamate is decreased, and the decrease is reversed by rolipram, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor that raises cAMP and leads to the dissociation of the PKA catalytic and regulatory subunits. It is likely that a similar mechanism underlies Alphabeta inhibition of LTP, because rolipram and forskolin, agents that enhance the cAMP-signaling pathway, can reverse this inhibition. This reversal is blocked by H89, an inhibitor of PKA. These observations suggest that Alphabeta acts directly on the pathways involved in the formation of late LTP and agents that enhance the cAMP/PKA/CREB-signaling pathway have potential for the treatment of AD.