Increased expression of developmental Nav1.3 promotes hippocampal CA3 hyperexcitability in early-stage 5xFAD mice
Neuronal hyperexcitability is an early and pervasive feature of Alzheimers disease (AD) that both predicts and accelerates subsequent cognitive decline. Persistent excitability depends on activation of voltage-gated sodium channels (Nav), yet most work has focused on the Nav subtypes expressed in the mature brain. Here, we show that Nav1.3, a subtype normally confined to early development, shows aberrantly increased expression in the dentate gyrus (DG)-CA3 circuit in early-stage 5xFAD mice. Using in vivo fiber photometry, three-month-old 5xFAD mice exhibited greater CA3 neuron population activity than seven-month-old 5xFAD mice or wildtype littermates. Oligomeric A{beta} expression, assessed by immunolabeling, was sparse at three months and rose significantly by seven months, indicating that CA3 hyperactivity emerges before substantial oligomeric A{beta} accumulates. This early activity increase coincided with elevated Nav1.3 expression at the DG-CA3 mossy fiber synapse, localized by immuno-electron microscopy to presynaptic mossy fiber terminals, where it exceeded levels in age-matched controls. Lentiviral shRNA-mediated knockdown of Nav1.3 expression in CA3 normalized CA3 network activity in early-stage 5xFAD mice. These findings identify Nav1.3 expression at DG-CA3 mossy fiber synapses as a driver of early hippocampal network dysfunction in AD and suggest Nav1.3 modulation as a potential target for circuit-level intervention.