Abstract
Hyperinsulinemia activates brain Akt and PKC-λ/ι and increases Aβ1-40/42 and phospho-tau in insulin-resistant animals. Here, we examined underlying mechanisms in mice, neuronal cells, and mouse hippocampal slices. Like Aβ1-40/42, β-secretase activity was increased in insulin-resistant mice and monkeys. In insulin-resistant mice, inhibition of hepatic PKC-λ/ι sufficient to correct hepatic abnormalities and hyperinsulinemia simultaneously reversed increases in Akt, atypical protein kinase C (aPKC), β-secretase, and Aβ1-40/42, and restored acute Akt activation. However, 2 aPKC inhibitors additionally blocked insulin's ability to activate brain PKC-λ/ι and thereby increase β-secretase and Aβ1-40/42. Furthermore, direct blockade of brain aPKC simultaneously corrected an impairment in novel object recognition in high-fat-fed insulin-resistant mice. In neuronal cells and/or mouse hippocampal slices, PKC-ι/λ activation by insulin, metformin, or expression of constitutive PKC-ι provoked increases in β-secretase, Aβ1-40/42, and phospho-thr-231-tau that were blocked by various PKC-λ/ι inhibitors, but not by an Akt inhibitor. PKC-λ/ι provokes increases in brain β-secretase, Aβ1-40/42, and phospho-thr-231-tau. Excessive signaling via PKC-λ/ι may link hyperinsulinemia and other PKC-λ/ι activators to pathological and functional abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease.