Project description:Background: Thiazolidinediones (TZDs) activate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) and are used clinically to help restore peripheral insulin sensitivity in Type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Interestingly, long-term treatment of mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with TZDs also has been shown to reduce several well-established brain biomarkers of AD including inflammation, oxidative stress and Abeta accumulation. While some of the TZD actions are becoming clear in AD models and may mediate their reported beneficial impact in AD patients, little is known about the functional consequences of TZDs in animal models of normal aging. Because aging is a common risk factor for both AD and T2DM, we investigated whether the TZD, pioglitazone could alter brain aging under non-pathological conditions. Findings: The TZD pioglitazone (PIO) was incorporated into the diet to yield a final dose of approximately 2.3 mg/kg body weight/day. PIO reduced insulin levels irrespective of age. Interestingly, a significant reduction in the Ca2+-dependent afterhyperpolarization was seen in the aged animals with no significant change in LTP maintenance or learning and memory performance. Finally, a combination of microarray analyses on hippocampal tissue and serum-based multiplex cytokine assays revealed that age-dependent inflammatory changes in brain and periphery were not reversed by PIO. Conclusions: While current research efforts continue to address the underlying processes responsible for the progressive decline in cognitive function seen during aging, available medical treatments are still very limited. Our study, therefore, was aimed at elucidating potentially novel actions of TZDs in the aging brain. Using a clinically-relevant dose and delivery method, PIO had no detectable impact on several indices of brain aging and failed to alter both peripheral and central age-related increases in inflammatory signaling. Keywords: hippocampus, rat, young or aged, control or pioglitazone-treated

Project description:Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases. So far, there is no effective treatment for this condition. Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) is an alkaloid extracted from traditional Chinese medicine chuanxiong, which is mainly used in the treatment of ischemic stroke some related diseases. In this study, we studied the potential effects of TMP on AD progression by using two AD mouse models. 8-month-old 3xTg-AD mice received TMP treatment (10mg/kg/d) for 1 month, and 4-month-old APP/PS1-AD mice received TMP treatment (10mg/kg/d) for 2 months. The behavioral tests by step-down passive avoidance test (SDA), new object recognition (NOR) and Morris water maze (MWM) showed that TMP significantly improved the learning and memory impairment of two AD transgenic mice. In addition, TMP reduced Aß levels and tau phosphorylation. Venny analysis showed that 116 differentially expressed proteins were commonly changed in 3xTg mice vs WT mice and TMP treated mice vs untreated mice. The same, 130 differentially expressed proteins were commonly changed in APP/PS1 mice vs WT mice and TMP treated mice vs untreated mice. The functions of the common proteins modified by TMP in the two models were mainly related to mitochondrial function, synaptic function, cytoskeleton, GTP binding, ATP binding. Mitochondrial omics analysis revealed 21 and 20 differentially expressed mitochondrial proteins modified by TMP in 3xTg-AD mice and APP/PS1 mice, respectively. These differential proteins were located in mitochondrial inner membrane, mitochondrial outer membrane, mitochondrial gap and mitochondrial matrix, and the function of some proteins is closely related to oxidative phosphorylation of (OXPHOS). Western-blot further validated that TMP changed the expression of OXPHOS complex proteins (sdhb, ndufa10, uqcrfs1, cox5b, atp5a) in the hippocampus of the two AD mice. Taken together, our study demonstrated that TMP improved the cognitive impairment and AD-like pathology, and modified hippocampal proteome in the two AD mice models. The improvement of the behavioral and pathology might be associated with modification of mitochondrial protein profile by TMP. Our study suggested that TMP had the potential for the treatment of AD.

Project description:The decline of cognitive function is a feature of normal human aging and is exacerbated in AlzheimerM-bM-^@M-^Ys disease (AD). DNA repair declines in brain cells during normal aging and even more so in AD. Here we show that experimental reduction in levels of the base excision repair enzyme, DNA polymerase M-NM-2 (Polb) renders neurons vulnerable to age-related dysfunction and degeneration in a mouse model of AD. Whereas 3xTgAD mice exhibit age-related extracellular amyloid b-peptide (Ab) accumulation and cognitive deficits, but no neuronal death, 3xTg/Polb+/- mice accumulates intracellular Ab and neurons die in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. The DNA repair-deficient 3xTgAD mice exhibited increased DNA strand breaks and apoptotic caspase activation with loss of hippocampal volume, and impaired synaptic plasticity and memory retention. Molecular profiling revealed remarkable similarities in gene expression alterations in brain cells of AD patients and 3xTgAD/Polb+/- mice including multiple abnormalities suggestive of impaired cellular bioenergetics. Our findings demonstrate that a modest decrement in oxidative DNA damage processing is sufficient to render neurons vulnerable to AD-related pathogenic molecular and cellular alterations that result in the dysfunction and death of neurons, and associated cognitive deficits. 4 mouse strains were used in these experiments, the 3xTgAD and Pol M-NM-2 (+/-) mice were bred at the National Institute on Aging (Baltimore, Maryland). The original line 3xTgAD line was generated as described previously (Oddo, et. al 2003) and possess APPswe, PS1M146V, and tauP301L mutations. DNA polymerase beta heterozygous mice, Pol M-NM-2 (+/-), were crossed with the 3xTgAD mice to generate a 3xTgAD/Pol M-NM-2 (+/-) mouse. The Wt strain is C57Bl/6. At 20 months of age these mice were euthanized by cervical dislocation, the brain removed from the skull and dissected into regions of interest, the prefrontal cortex was used for the microarray studies.

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Long-term pioglitazone improves learning and attenuates pathological markers in a mouse model of AD

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