Brain insulin signaling deficits contribute to multiple pathological features of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although intranasal insulin has shown efficacy in patients with AD, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unillustrated. Here, we demonstrate that intranasal insulin improves cognitive deficits, ameliorates defective brain insulin signaling, and strongly reduces β-amyloid (Aβ) production and plaque formation after 6 weeks of treatment in 4.5-month-old APPswe/PS1dE9 (APP/PS1) mice. Furthermore, c-Jun N-terminal kinase activation, which plays a pivotal role in insulin resistance and AD pathologies, is significantly inhibited. The alleviation of amyloid pathology by intranasal insulin results mainly from enhanced nonamyloidogenic processing and compromised amyloidogenic processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP), and from a reduction in apolipoprotein E protein which is involved in Aβ metabolism. In addition, intranasal insulin effectively promotes hippocampal neurogenesis in APP/PS1 mice. This study, exploring the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of intranasal insulin on Aβ pathologies in vivo for the first time, highlights important preclinical evidence that intranasal insulin is potentially an effective therapeutic method for the prevention and treatment of AD.
Keywords: APP processing; APP/PS1; Alzheimer's disease; amyloid pathology; insulin signaling.
© 2016 The Authors. Aging Cell published by the Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.