Background
Mitochondrial dysfunction is an early and central feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In particular, intercellular mitochondrial transfer has emerged as a mechanism of neuronal support in brain injury and neurodegeneration. However, pathways governing astrocyte-to-neuron transfer and its role in AD pathogenesis remain unknown.
Methods
Using the App NL-G-F knock-in AD model, we combined high-resolution 4D live-cell imaging with quantitative fluorescence-based reporters to assess synaptic function and mitochondrial network dynamics in neurons and astrocytes. Direct and extracellular vesicle (EV)-restricted neuron-astrocyte co-culture systems were used to investigate bidirectional mitochondrial transfer. We performed the first in-depth structural, proteomic, and functional characterization of astrocyte-derived mitochondrial extracellular vesicles (mitoEVs) using cryo-electron microscopy, quantitative mass spectrometry, and bioenergetic analyses to define their cargo composition and metabolic effects.
Results
We identified cell-type–specific mitochondrial remodeling in early AD, with compartmentalized synaptic energy deficits in neurons and hyperdynamic, less interconnected, yet metabolically preserved networks in astrocytes, preceding global bioenergetic decline. Bidirectional mitochondrial transfer between astrocytes and neurons, also at axonal terminals, was mediated by specialized mitoEVs but significantly reduced in the App NL-G-F model. Comprehensive proteomic and functional profiling revealed that WT astrocyte-derived mitoEVs are enriched in inner membrane and matrix proteins, supporting oxidative phosphorylation, lipid and amino acid metabolism, and redox homeostasis. In contrast, App NL-G-F mitoEVs are selectively depleted of respiratory and fatty acid oxidation components and exhibit impaired respiration with reduced Complex IV activity. Functionally, WT mitoEVs promote mobilization of abnormal accumulation of lipid droplets in App NL-G-F neurons, restore fatty acid oxidation, and increase neuronal bioenergetics, including at the synapses. In contrast, disease-derived mitoEVs fail to engage these pathways.
Conclusions
Together, these findings identify mitoEV-mediated mitochondrial transfer as a glia-to-neuron metabolic pathway compromised in early AD and reveal a coordinated role for oxidative phosphorylation and fatty acid oxidation in supporting synaptic energy homeostasis.