INTRODUCTION: Increasing evidence suggests that metabolic impairments contribute to early Alzheimer's disease (AD) mechanisms and subsequent dementia. Signals in metabolic pathways conserved across species can facilitate translation. METHODS: We investigated differences in serum and brain metabolites between the early-onset 5XFAD and late-onset LOAD1 (APOE4.Trem2*R47H) mouse models of AD to C57BL/6J controls at 6 months of age. RESULTS: We identified sex differences for several classes of metabolites, such as glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, and amino acids. Metabolic signatures were notably different between brain and serum in both mouse models. The 5XFAD mice exhibited stronger differences in brain metabolites, whereas LOAD1 mice showed more pronounced differences in serum. DISCUSSION: Several of our findings were consistent with results in humans, showing glycerophospholipids reduction in serum of apolipoprotein E (apoE) ε4 carriers and replicating the serum metabolic imprint of the APOE ε4 genotype. Our work thus represents a significant step toward translating metabolic dysregulation from model organisms to human AD. HIGHLIGHTS: This was a metabolomic assessment of two mouse models relevant to Alzheimer's disease. Mouse models exhibit broad sex-specific metabolic differences, similar to human study cohorts. The early-onset 5XFAD mouse model primarily alters brain metabolites while the late-onset LOAD1 model primarily changes serum metabolites. Apolipoprotein E (apoE) ε4 mice recapitulate glycerophospolipid signatures of human APOE ε4 carriers in both brain and serum.
GrantsNational Institute on Aging NIA ADNI - Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI Alzheimer's Disease Metabolomics Consortium FNIH Duke Metabolomics and Proteomics Shared Resource, a member of the ADMC National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health National Institutes of Health) DOD ADNI (Department of Defense) National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Meso Scale Diagnostics, LLC Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation Pfizer Inc. Piramal Imaging Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Canadian Institutes of Health Research ADNI clinical sites in Canada Foundation for the National Institutes of Health Northern California Institute for Research and Education Laboratory for Neuro Imaging at the University of Southern California Illinois Department of Public Health (ROSMAP) Merck Co., Inc. Lumosity Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC Alzheimer's Association Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Araclon Biotech Biogen CereSpir, Inc. Cogstate Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Eli Lilly and Company EuroImmun Fujirebio Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy Research & Development, LLC Translational Genomics Research Institute