Glial Sphingosine-Mediated Epigenetic Regulation Stabilizes Synaptic Function in DrosophilaModels of Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract

Destabilization of neural activity caused by failures of homeostatic regulation has been hypothesized to drive the progression of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). However, the underpinning mechanisms that connect synaptic homeostasis and the disease etiology are yet to be fully understood. Here, we demonstrated that neuronal overexpression of amyloid β (Aβ) causes abnormal histone acetylation in peripheral glia and completely blocks presynaptic homeostatic potentiation (PHP) at the neuromuscular junction in Drosophila. The synaptic deficits caused by Aβ overexpression in motoneurons are associated with motor function impairment at the adult stage. Moreover, we found that a sphingosine analog drug, Fingolimod, ameliorates synaptic homeostatic plasticity impairment, abnormal glial histone acetylation, and motor behavior defects in the Aβ models. We further demonstrated that perineurial glial sphingosine kinase 2 ( Sk2) is not only required for PHP, but also plays a beneficial role in modulating PHP in the Aβ models. Glial overexpression of Sk2rescues PHP, glial histone acetylation, and motor function deficits that are associated with Aβ in Drosophila. Finally, we showed that glial overexpression of Sk2restores PHP and glial histone acetylation in a genetic loss-of-function mutant of the Spt-Ada-Gcn5 Acetyltransferase complex, strongly suggesting that Sk2modulates PHP through epigenetic regulation. Both male and female animals were used in the experiments and analyses in this study. Collectively, we provided genetic evidence demonstrating that abnormal glial epigenetic alterations in Aβ models in Drosophilaare associated with the impairment of PHP and that the sphingosine signaling pathway displays protective activities in stabilizing synaptic physiology.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTFingolimod, an oral drug to treat multiple sclerosis, is phosphorylated by sphingosine kinases to generate its active form. It is known that Fingolimod enhances the cognitive function in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the role of sphingosine kinases in AD is not clear. We bridge this knowledge gap by demonstrating the relationship between impaired homeostatic plasticity and AD. We show that sphingosine kinase 2 ( Sk2) in glial cells is necessary for homeostatic plasticity and that glial Sk2-mediated epigenetic signaling has a protective role in synapse stabilization. Our findings demonstrate the potential of the glial sphingosine signaling as a key player in glia–neuron interactions during homeostatic plasticity, suggesting it could be a promising target for sustaining synaptic function in AD.