Evidence mapPaperPMID 42237401Full record

ArticleMolecular neurodegeneration2026

Insulin resistance alters cortical inhibitory neurons and microglia to exacerbate Alzheimer's knock-in mouse phenotypes.

LaShae Nicholson, Si Jie Tang, Tejaswini Karra, Habiba Abouelatta, Stephen M Strittmatter

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Article in Molecular neurodegeneration, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 authors.

LaShae NicholsonDepartments of Neuroscience and Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Si Jie TangDepartments of Neuroscience and Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Tejaswini KarraDepartments of Neuroscience and Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Habiba AbouelattaDepartments of Neuroscience and Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Stephen M StrittmatterDepartments of Neuroscience and Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. stephen.strittmatter@yale.edu.

Funding

Yale Alzheimer Disease Research CenterP30AG066508 · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2025 to 2025
$4.8M
mGluR5 and Phase State Dependent Synaptic Loss in Alzheimer's DiseaseR01AG034924 · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2025 to 2025
$786k
Synaptic selectivity for microglial-mediated damage in Alzheimer's DiseaseR01AG070926 · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2025 to 2025
$782k
Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine noneNational Institutes of Health,United States P30AG066508NIA NIH HHS P30 AG066508NIA NIH HHS R01 AG034924NIA NIH HHS R01 AG070926NIH HHS R01034924
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMetabolic dysfunction contributes to the risk and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet the cellular mechanisms linking impaired insulin signaling and systemic metabolic stress to brain dysfunction remain incompletely defined.

methodsWe examined the impact of chronic high-fat, high-sugar (HFHS)-induced insulin resistance on metabolic parameters, spatial learning and memory, and in vivo glial activation and neuropathology in Alzheimer's disease knock-in mice expressing human mutant APP and wild-type (WT) tau. Single-nucleus RNA sequencing was performed to resolve cell-type-specific transcriptional responses.

resultsHFHS-diet induced weight gain, hyperglycemia, and glucose intolerance in WT and AD knock-in mice as compared to control diet-fed mice. However, impaired spatial learning was observed only in AD knock-in mice on the HFHS diet, even though there was no greater amyloid-β deposition or tau phosphorylation than in control diet AD knock-in mice. Transcriptomic profiling revealed that HFHS-fed AD mice engaged a distinct glial program, which we termed the metabolic impairment in neurodegeneration (MinD) state, characterized by upregulation of genes involved in synaptic targeting and trans-synaptic signaling shared across microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. In parallel, we identified selective induction of the transcription factor Meis2 in cortical Layer 2 inhibitory neurons, which exhibited HFHS-diet transcriptional remodeling enriched for pathways regulating vesicle release, synaptic organization, and membrane excitability. These coordinated glial and neuronal transcriptional changes were associated with reduced inhibitory synapse density in HFHS-fed AD mice.

conclusionDiet-induced insulin resistance in AD knock-in mice is associated with coordinated glial and inhibitory neuron transcriptional remodeling and cognitive impairment, without alteration of the classical amyloid and tau pathology present in the AD mice fed a lean diet. These findings define cellular programs linking systemic insulin metabolic dysfunction to cortical circuity vulnerability in AD.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseCerebral CortexInsulin ResistanceMicrogliaNeuronsAnimalsDiet, High-FatDisease Models, AnimalGene Knock-In TechniquesHumansMiceMice, TransgenicPhenotypetau Proteinstau ProteinsAlzheimer’sDiabetesGlucoseInhibitory neuronsInsulin resistanceMicrogliaObesitysnRNA-seq

Identifiers

PMID42237401
PMCPMC13459496

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.