In a paper in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, we demonstrate that the oxysterol 27-hydroxycholesterol reduces leptin levels and increases levels of both Aβ and phosphorylated tau in organotypic slices from adult rabbit hippocampus. Interestingly, we show that treatment with leptin reversed the 27-OHC-induced increase in Aβ and phosphorylated tau by decreasing the levels of BACE-1 and GSK-3β, respectively. Our results suggest that cholesterol metabolites induce AD-like pathology by altering leptin signaling.

References:
Marwarha G, Dasari B, Prasanthi JR, Schommer J, Ghribi O. Leptin is Involved in Accumulation of Amyloid-beta and Tau Phosphorylation Induced by 27-Hydroxycholesterol in Organotypic Slices from Adult Rabbit Hippocampus. J Alzheimers Dis. 2009 Dec 7. Abstract

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