DNA damage and cell cycle events implicate cerebellar dentate nucleus neurons as targets of Alzheimer's disease

BACKGROUND: Although the cerebellum is considered to be predominantly involved in fine motor control, emerging evidence documents its participation in language, impulsive behavior and higher cognitive functions. While the specific connections of the cerebellar deep nuclei (CDN) that are responsible for these functions are still being worked out, their deficiency has been termed "cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome" - a syndrome that bears a striking similarity to many of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Using ectopic cell cycle events and DNA damage markers as indexes of cellular distress, we have explored the neuropathological involvement of the CDN in human AD. RESULTS: We examined the human cerebellar dentate nucleus in 22 AD cases and 19 controls for the presence of neuronal cell cycle events and DNA damage using immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Both techniques revealed several instances of highly significant correlations. By contrast, neither amyloid plaque nor neurofibrillary tangle pathology was detected in this region, consistent with previous reports of human cerebellar pathology. Five cases of early stage AD were examined and while cell cycle and DNA damage markers were well advanced in the hippocampus of all five, few indicators of either cell cycle events (1 case) or a DNA damage response (1 case) were found in CDN. This implies that CDN neurons are most likely affected later in the course of AD. Clinical-pathological correlations revealed that cases with moderate to high levels of cell cycle activity in their CDN are highly likely to show deficits in unorthodox cerebellar functions including speech, language and motor planning. CONCLUSION: Our results reveal that the CDN neurons are under cellular stress in AD and suggest that some of the non-motor symptoms found in patients with AD may be partly cerebellar in origin.