Hippocampal CA1 atrophy and synaptic loss during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, EAE

Over half of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients experience cognitive deficits, including learning and memory dysfunction, and the mechanisms underlying these deficits remain poorly understood. Neuronal injury and synaptic loss have been shown to occur within the hippocampus in other neurodegenerative disease models, and these pathologies have been correlated with cognitive impairment. Whether hippocampal abnormalities occur in MS models is unknown. Using experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), we evaluated hippocampal neurodegeneration and inflammation during disease. Hippocampal pathology began early in EAE disease course, and included decreases in CA1 pyramidal layer volume, loss of inhibitory interneurons and increased cell death of neurons and glia. It is interesting to note that these effects occurred in the presence of chronic microglial activation, with a relative paucity of infiltrating blood-borne immune cells. Widespread diffuse demyelination occurred in the hippocampus, but there was no significant decrease in axonal density. Furthermore, there was a significant reduction in pre-synaptic puncta and synaptic protein expression within the hippocampus, as well as impaired performance on a hippocampal-dependent spatial learning task. Our results demonstrate that neurodegenerative changes occur in the hippocampus during autoimmune-mediated demyelinating disease. This work establishes a preclinical model for assessing treatments targeted toward preventing hippocampal neuropathology and dysfunction in MS.