The effect of a secreted form of beta-amyloid-precursor protein on intracellular Ca2+ increase in rat cultured hippocampal neurones

1. The effects of secreted forms of beta-amyloid-precursor proteins (APP(S)s) on the intracellular Ca2+ concentration (Ca2+]i) were investigated in rat cultured hippocampal neurones. APP695S, a secretory form of APP695, attenuated the increase in Ca2+]i evoked by glutamate. In addition, APP695S itself evoked an increase in Ca2+]i in 1 or 2 day-cultured hippocampal cells, but not in 7 to 13 day-cultured cells. 2. Eighty-one percent of neurones which were immunocytochemically positive for microtubule-associated protein 2 responded to APP695S with an increase in Ca2+]i. 3. APP695S induced a transient rise in Ca2+]i even in the absence of extracellular Ca2+ and produced an elevation in inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) in a concentration-dependent manner from 100 to 500 ng ml(-1). In the presence of extracellular Ca2+, APP695S caused a transient rise in Ca2+]i followed by a sustained phase at high Ca2+]i, suggesting Ca2+ entry from the extracellular space. 4. The Ca2+]i elevation was mimicked by amino terminal peptides of APPs, but not by carboxy terminal peptides. 5. These results taken together suggest that APP695S induces an increase in Ca2+]i in hippocampal neurones through an IP3-dependent mechanism that changes according to the stage of development.