LAUSR

β‐Amyloid peptide accumulation in the cortex and in the hippocampus results in neurodegeneration and memory loss. Recently, it became evident that the inflammatory response triggered by β‐Amyloid peptides promotes neuronal cell death and degeneration. In addition to inflammation, β‐Amyloid peptides also induce alterations in neuronal autophagy, eventually leading to neuronal cell death. Thus, here we evaluated whether the inflammatory response induced by the β‐Amyloid peptides impairs memory via disrupting the autophagic flux. We show that male mice overexpressing β‐Amyloid peptides (5XFAD) but lacking caspase‐1, presented reduced β‐Amyloid plaques in the cortex and in the hippocampus; restored brain autophagic flux and improved learning and memory capacity. At the molecular level, inhibition of the inflammatory response in the 5XFAD mice restored LC3‐II levels and prevented the accumulation of oligomeric p62 and ubiquitylated proteins. Furthermore, caspase‐1 deficiency reinstates activation of the AMPK/Raptor pathway while down‐regulating AKT/mTOR pathway. Consistent with this, we found an inverse correlation between the increase of autophagolysosomes in the cortex of 5XFAD mice lacking caspase‐1 and the presence of mitochondria with altered morphology. Together our results indicate that β‐Amyloid peptide‐induced caspase‐1 activation, disrupts autophagy in the cortex and in the hippocampus resulting in neurodegeneration and memory loss.