Copper accumulation in the brain of Down syndrome model mice and its pathophysiological significance

Abstract

Down syndrome caused by triplication of human chromosome 21 (HSA21) is the most frequent aneuploidy, resulting in mental retardation, intellectual disability and accelerated aging. Individuals with DS are at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-like dementia, with up to 75% of DS people in their 60s developing dementia. Oxidative stress is widely accepted as a mechanism underlying a number of DS symptoms, such as accelerated aging and cognitive decline. Superoxide disumutase 1 (Sod1) and amiloyd precursor protein (App) genes are suggested as the candidate genes in HSA21 underlying the enhanced oxidative stress in individuals with DS. However, we previously demonstrated that the Ts1Cje mouse model, which has a normal copy number of both candidate genes, also shows enhanced oxidative stress, suggesting that triplicated genes other than Sod1 and App likely enhance oxidative stress in the brain of DS people. To identify the molecules with enhanced oxidative stress in Ts1Cje mice, we performed several -omics analyses. Recently, we showed that copper was accumulated in the brain of adult Ts1Cje mice in an analysis using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and a low-copper diet was able to improve the elevated levels of copper. The low-copper diet also resolved some anomalies, such as the enhanced oxidative stress, accumulation of phosphorylated tau and low anxiety. These findings suggest that the accumulation of copper in the DS brain may be a therapeutic target for ameliorating a number of abnormal phenotypes in individuals with DS.