Skip to main content
. 2010 Sep 23;5(9):e12974. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012974

Figure 3. Age-related effects of BACE1+/− deletion on APP processing and Aβ levels in 5XFAD mice.

Figure 3

(A) Immunoblot analysis of hemibrain lysates from 5XFAD mice with BACE1+/+ or BACE1+/− genotype at 6 months and 15–18 months of age. (B, C) Intensities of immunoreactive bands for full-length APP (B) and C99 (C) were quantified by phosphorimaging and expressed as percentage of 6-month-old 5XFAD mouse levels (n = 5–7 mice per group). (D) Levels of total Aβ42 were quantified by sandwich ELISA of guanidine extracts of hemibrain samples and expressed in nanograms per milligram of total protein (n = 4 mice per group). APP overexpression levels are not changed in BACE1+/−·5XFAD mice irrespective of age as compared to 5XFAD mice. Levels of C99 and Aβ42 are significantly lower in BACE1+/−·5XFAD mice at 6 months of age as compared with 5XFAD wild-type controls (# p<0.05). Note that C99 and Aβ42 levels are significantly elevated in 15–18-month-old 5XFAD mouse brains compared to 6-month-old 5XFAD brains (* p<0.05), while BACE1+/− deletion is no longer able to reduce levels of the β-cleavage products in 5XFAD mice at the advanced age. All data are presented as mean ± SEM.