Decrease of dehydrogenase activity of cerebral glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in different animal models of Alzheimer's disease.

Recently, a relationship between glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and the beta-amyloid precursor protein (betaAPP) in relationship with the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been suggested. Therefore, we studied the specific activity of GAPDH in the different animal models of AD: transgenic mice (Tg2576) and rats treated with beta-amyloid, or thiorphan, or lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and interferon gamma (INFgamma). We observed that GAPDH activity was significantly decreased in the brain samples from TG mice. The injection of beta-amyloid, or thiorphan, an inhibitor of neprilysin involved in beta-amyloid catabolism, in rat brains resulted in a pronounced reduction of the enzyme activity. The infusion of LPS and IFNgamma, which can influence the progression of the AD, significantly reduced the enzyme activity.