Amyloid-β–Induced Changes in Molecular Clock Properties and Cellular Bioenergetics

Karen Schmitt, Amandine Grimm, Anne Eckert

Ageing is an inevitable biological process that results in a progressive structural and functional decline, as well as biochemical alterations that altogether lead to reduced ability to adapt to environmental changes. As clock oscillations and clock-controlled rhythms are not resilient to the aging process, aging of the circadian system may also increase susceptibility to age-related pathologies such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Besides the amyloid-beta protein (Aβ)-induced metabolic decline and neuronal toxicity in AD, numerous studies have demonstrated that the disruption of sleep and circadian rhythms is one of the common and earliest signs of the disease. In this study, we addressed the questions of whether Aβ contributes to an abnormal molecular circadian clock leading to a bioenergetic imbalance. For this purpose, we used different oscillator cellular models: human skin fibroblasts, human glioma cells, as well as mouse primary cortical and hippocampal neurons. We first evaluated the circadian period length, a molecular clock property, in the presence of different Aβ species. We report here that physiologically relevant Aβ1-42 concentrations ranging from 10 to 500 nM induced an increase of the period length in human skin fibroblasts, human A172 glioma cells as well as in mouse primary neurons whereas the reverse control peptide Aβ42-1, which is devoid of toxic action, did not influence the circadian period length within the same concentration range. To better understand the underlying mechanisms that are involved in the Aβ-related alterations of the circadian clock, we examined the cellular metabolic state in the human primary skin fibroblast model. Notably, under normal conditions, ATP levels displayed circadian oscillations, which correspond to the respective circadian pattern of mitochondrial respiration. In contrast, Aβ1-42 treatment provoked a strong dampening in the metabolic oscillations of ATP levels as well as mitochondrial respiration and in addition, induced an increased oxidized state. Overall, we gain here new insights into the deleterious cycle involved in Aβ-induced decay of the circadian rhythms leading to metabolic deficits, which may contribute to the failure in mitochondrial energy metabolism associated with the pathogenesis of AD.