Tetrandrine ameliorates cognitive deficits and mitigates tau aggregation in cell and animal models of tauopathies

• Published in: Journal of biomedical science Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 1 - 85
• Main Authors: Tong, Benjamin Chun-Kit, Huang, Alexis Shiying, Wu, Aston Jiaxi, Iyaswamy, Ashok, Ho, Olivia Ka-Yi, Kong, Anna Hau-Yee, Sreenivasmurthy, Sravan Gopalkrishnashetty, Zhu, Zhou, Su, Chengfu, Liu, Jia, Song, Juxian, Li, Min, Cheung, King-Ho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel BioMed Central Ltd 22-10-2022; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Advertising executives; Agglomeration; Alzheimer's disease; Amyloid; Animal cognition; Animal models; Autophagy; Brain; Brain research; Brain slice preparation; Calcium dysregulation; Calcium homeostasis; Calcium imaging; Calcium ions; Cell culture; Clearances; Cognitive ability; Degradation; Dementia disorders; Drug dosages; Electrophysiology; Experiments; Fear conditioning; Flow cytometry; Fluorescence; Frontotemporal dementia; Genetic engineering; Health aspects; Health services; Homeostasis; Immunofluorescence; Impairment; In vivo methods and tests; Laboratory animals; Lysosome; Memory; Microglia; Mutation; Nervous system diseases; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neuroimaging; Object recognition; Pathogenesis; Pattern recognition; pH effects; Phagocytosis; Proteins; Senile plaques; Staining; Tauopathy; Tetrandrine; Transgenic mice; Two-pore channel 2; Western blotting; United States > US
• ISSN: 1423-0127; 1021-7770; 1423-0127
• DOI: 10.1186/s12929-022-00871-6

Abstract
Background
Tauopathies are neurodegenerative diseases that are associated with the pathological accumulation of tau-containing tangles in the brain. Tauopathy can impair cognitive and motor functions and has been observed in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The aetiology of tauopathy remains mysterious; however, recent studies suggest that the autophagic-endolysosomal function plays an essential role in the degradation and transmission of pathological tau. We previously demonstrated that tetrandrine could ameliorate memory functions and clear amyloid plaques in transgenic AD mice by restoring autophagic-endolysosomal function. However, the efficacy of tetrandrine and the associated therapeutic mechanism in tauopathies have not been evaluated and elucidated.
Methods
Novel object recognition, fear conditioning and electrophysiology were used to evaluate the effects of tetrandrine on memory functions in transgenic tau mice. Western blotting and immunofluorescence staining were employed to determine the effect of tetrandrine on autophagy and tau clearance in vivo. Calcium (Ca
2+
) imaging and flow cytometry were used to delineate the role of pathological tau and tetrandrine in lysosomal Ca
2+
and pH homeostasis. Biochemical BiFC fluorescence, Western blotting and immunofluorescence staining were used to evaluate degradation of hyperphosphorylated tau in vitro, whereas coculture of brain slices with isolated microglia was used to evaluate tau clearance ex vivo.
Results
We observed that tetrandrine treatment mitigated tau tangle development and corrected memory impairment in Thy1-hTau.P301S transgenic mice. Mechanistically, we showed that mutant tau expression disrupts lysosome pH by increasing two-pore channel 2 (TPC2)-mediated Ca
2+
release, thereby contributing to lysosome alkalinization. Tetrandrine inhibits TPC2, thereby restoring the lysosomal pH, promotes tau degradation via autophagy, and ameliorates tau aggregation. Furthermore, in an ex vivo assay, we demonstrated that tetrandrine treatment promotes pathological tau clearance by microglia.
Conclusions
Together, these findings suggest that pathological tau disturbs endolysosomal homeostasis to impair tau clearance. This impairment results in a vicious cycle that accelerates disease pathogenesis. The success of tetrandrine in reducing tau aggregation suggests first, that tetrandrine could be an effective drug for tauopathies and second, that rescuing lysosomal Ca
2+
homeostasis, thereby restoring ALP function, could be an effective general strategy for the development of novel therapies for tauopathies.