Selective ablation of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells increases amyloid plaques in a mouse Alzheimer's disease model

We have recently shown that the ability of microglia to effectively fight off aggregated beta-amyloid plaque formation and cognitive loss in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (Tg-AD), is augmented in response to T-cell-based immunization, using glatiramer acetate (GA). The immunization increases incidence of local CD11c+ dendritic-like cells. It is unclear, however, whether these dendritic cells are derived from resident microglia or from the bone marrow. To determine the origin of this dendritic-cell population, we used chimeric mice whose bone marrow-derived cells express a transgene that allows the cells to be specifically ablated by diphtheria toxin. We show here that T-cell-based immunization of these mice, using GA, induced the recruitment of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells. Depletion of the dendritic cells by systemic injection of diphtheria toxin resulted in significantly increased formation of amyloid plaques. Thus, recruitment of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells evidently plays a role in reducing plaque formation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.