Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 28, Issue 3 , Pages 351-356, March 2007

Expression of cortical and hippocampal apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) in aging and Alzheimer's disease☆

  • Stéphanie Reix

      Affiliations

    • Institut de Neurobiologie de la Méditerranée (INMED), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Parc Scientifique Luminy, BP13, 13 273 Marseille, France
    • Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, 6875 LaSalle Blvd, Verdun (Montréal), Qc, Canada H4H 1R3
    • These authors contributed equally to the study.
    • ,
  • Naguib Mechawar

      Affiliations

    • Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, 6875 LaSalle Blvd, Verdun (Montréal), Qc, Canada H4H 1R3
    • These authors contributed equally to the study.
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +1 514 761 6131x2825; fax: +1 514 762 3034.
    • ,
  • Santos A. Susin

      Affiliations

    • Apoptose et Système Immunitaire, Centre de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-URA 1961, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Dr Roux, 75 015 Paris, France
    • ,
  • Rémi Quirion

      Affiliations

    • Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, 6875 LaSalle Blvd, Verdun (Montréal), Qc, Canada H4H 1R3
    • ,
  • Slavica Krantic

      Affiliations

    • Institut de Neurobiologie de la Méditerranée (INMED), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Parc Scientifique Luminy, BP13, 13 273 Marseille, France

Received 22 August 2005; received in revised form 8 December 2005; accepted 21 January 2006.

Abstract 

Apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) is a mitochondrial oxidoreductase originally identified for its role in caspase-independent programmed cell death (PCD). In this study, we investigated AIF protein expression levels in frontal and temporal cortices of normal subjects of various ages, as well as in subjects with Alzheimer's disease (AD). AIF levels were also measured in the hippocampus of age-matched elderly and AD subjects. Amounts of all three AIF isoforms increased significantly with age in both cortical areas. Interestingly, AIF expression levels in the cortex (but not hippocampus) were consistently lower in AD compared to age-matched controls. The up-regulation of cortical AIF in normal aging is consistent with its previously hypothesized role as a free radical scavenger, and may thus represent an adaptive cellular response to compensate for the steady increase in oxidative stress occurring with age.

Keywords: Apoptosis-inducing factor, Cerebral cortex, Hippocampus, Human, Aging, Alzheimer's Disease, Oxidative stress

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☆ All authors have read the paper and state that this is material not previously published and not being considered for publication elsewhere. None of us has any conflict of interest whatsoever with regards to the presented work, which was approved by the Douglas Hospital Research Ethics Board (Montreal, Canada) and supported by grants from CIHR (RQ) and CNRS-CIHR (SK), a joint grant from INSERM-FRSQ (RQ and SK) and a postdoctoral fellowship to NM from FRSQ and the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

PII: S0197-4580(06)00008-X

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2006.01.003

Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 28, Issue 3 , Pages 351-356, March 2007

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