Year 1

The goal of this proposal is to determine the isoform-specific effects of apolipoprotein (apo) E on the development of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into functional neurons both in vitro and in mice. Toward this goal, we have made significant progress in Aims 1 and 2.

First, we further demonstrated that neural stem cells (NSCs) express apoE. ApoE-KO mice had significantly less hippocampal neurogenesis, but significantly more astrogenesis, than wildtype mice due to decreased Noggin expression in NSCs. In contrast, neuronal maturation in apoE4 knock-in (apoE4-KI) mice was impaired due to reduced survival and function of GABAergic interneurons in the hilus of the hippocampus, and a GABAA receptor potentiator rescued the apoE4-associated decrease in hippocampal neurogenesis. Thus, apoE plays an important role in hippocampal neurogenesis, and the apoE4 isoform impairs GABAergic input to newborn neurons, leading to decreased neurogenesis. A paper describing these data was published in Cell Stem Cell (Li G. et al. 2009, 5:634-645), which evidently is the 400th publication of CIRM-funded projects.

Second, we established mouse iPS cell lines from adult mouse fibroblasts of wildtype, apoE knockout (apoE-KO), human apoE2-KI, human apoE3-KI, and human apoE4-KI mice.

Finally, we developed NSC lines from mouse iPS cells with different apoE genotypes (wildtype mouse apoE, apoE-KO, apoE2, apoE3, and apoE4). These cell lines will be used to study the effects of apoE isoforms on neuronal development in vitro in culture and in vivo in mouse models.