Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion upregulates leptin receptor expression in astrocytes and tau phosphorylation in tau transgenic mice

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia in aging adults. Increasing evidence has revealed that vascular risk factors influence the midlife development of AD and that diet-induced obesity accelerates tau phosphorylation in tau transgenic mice and increases the level of serum leptin receptor (leptin-R). Leptin-R is upregulated in the peri-infarct cortices after acute cerebral ischemia. Leptin may be protective against the development of AD as it can inactivate GSK-3β through the phosphorylation of Ser-9, leading to the reduction of tau phosphorylation. Using tau transgenic mice, the present study examined whether chronic cerebral hypoperfusion affects leptin-R signaling and tau phosphorylation. Eight-month-old tau transgenic mice (T44) overexpressing the shortest human tau isoform were subjected to chronic cerebral hypoperfusion with bilateral common carotid artery stenosis (BCAS) using microcoils or sham surgery. Their brains were analyzed four weeks later to evaluate the expression of phosphorylated tau and leptin-R via immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. In addition, expression of leptin-R was examined in the rat primary astrocyte cultures subjected to prolonged chemical hypoxic stress, as well as in autopsied brains. BCAS upregulated leptin-R expression and promoted the expression of phosphorylated tau in T44 Tg mice. In primary astrocyte cultures, leptin-R was upregulated under hypoxic conditions via the phosphorylated AKT/pAKT pathway, possibly suppressing the expression of caspase 3. Leptin-R was also strongly expressed in autopsied brains with AD and cerebrovascular diseases. These results collectively indicate that chronic cerebral hypoperfusion promotes leptin-R signaling and tau phosphorylation.