Protective effects of a small-molecule inhibitor DDQ against tau-induced toxicities in a transgenic tau mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

The purpose of our study is to determine DDQ (diethyl (3,4-dihydroxyphenethylamino) (quinolin-4-yl) methylphosphonate) - a newly discovered molecule that has been shown to protect against phosphorylated tau (p-tau) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis. We used a well-studied tau (P301L) transgenic mouse model to achieve our goal. We administered DDQ into 12-month-old Tau mice, at 20 mg/kg body weight intraperitoneally two times per week for 2 months. We also assessed DDQ levels in the blood, skeletal muscle and brain using biochemical and molecular techniques. We investigated the mRNA and protein levels of mitochondrial dynamics, biogenesis, synaptic, p-tau and longevity genes sirtuins in DDQ-treated tau mice using real-time quantitative PCR (q-RT-PCR), immunoblotting and immunofluorescence techniques. Our extensive pharmacodynamics investigations revealed that skeletal muscle had the greatest peak levels of DDQ, followed by serum and brain. Interestingly, DDQ-treated tau mice had higher levels of mitochondrial fusion, biogenesis, synaptic genes and sirtuins than DDQ-untreated tau mice. In addition, DDQ-treated tau mice had lower levels of mitochondrial fission and p-tau than untreated tau mice. The current findings, combined with our prior findings, firmly show that DDQ possesses anti-aging, anti-amyloid-beta and anti-p-tau properties, making it a promising molecule for reducing age-related, amyloid-beta and p-tau-induced synaptic and mitochondrial toxicities in AD.