Morphological change by overexpression of D385A dominant negative presenilin 1 in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells

Presenilin 1 (PS1) is a multifunctional protein, and its mutations are highly related to familial Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we examined the effects of PS1 overexpression on neuronal morphology using SH-SY5Y cells. Overexpression of dominant-negative D385A PS1 induced morphological change and impairment of neurite formation, while those of wild-type and pathogenic P117L mutant PS1 did not change cellular morphology compared with native cells. Moreover, filopodium-formation-related proteins were decreased only in cells over-expressing D385A PS1. Therefore, PS1 may be involved in neuritogenesis and morphological change in SH-SY5Y cells, and P117L mutation may linked to AD by different mechanisms.