Gastrointestinal Dysfunction and Low-Grade Inflammation Associate With Enteric Neuronal Amyloid-β in a Model for Amyloid Pathology.

Background: Patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder involving cognitive decline and memory impairment, often present with gastrointestinal comorbidities. Accumulating data also indicate that alterations in the gut can modulate Alzheimer's disease pathology, highlighting the need to better understand the link between gastrointestinal abnormalities and neurodegeneration in the brain.

Methods: To disentangle the pathophysiology of gastrointestinal dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease, we conducted a detailed pathological characterization of the gastrointestinal tract of 5xFAD mice by performing histological analyses, gene expression studies, immunofluorescence labeling and gut function assays.