Age-related neuroinflammation and pathology in the locus coeruleus and hippocampus: beta-adrenergic antagonists exacerbate impairment of learning and memory in aged mice

Author(s):  
Andrew K. Evans ◽  
Heui Hye Park ◽  
Nay Lui Saw ◽  
Kratika Singhal ◽  
Gaku Ogawa ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabíola de Carvalho Chaves de Siqueira Mendes ◽  
Luisa Taynah Vasconcelos Barbosa Paixão ◽  
Daniel Guerreiro Diniz ◽  
Daniel Clive Anthony ◽  
Dora Brites ◽  
...  

To explore the impact of reduced mastication and a sedentary lifestyle on spatial learning and memory in the aged mice, as well as on the morphology of astrocytes in the molecular layer of dentate gyrus (MolDG), different masticatory regimens were imposed. Control mice received a pellet-type hard diet, while the reduced masticatory activity group received a pellet diet followed by a powdered diet, and the masticatory rehabilitation group received a pellet diet, followed by powder diet and then a pellet again. To mimic sedentary or active lifestyles, mice were housed in an impoverished environment of standard cages or in an enriched environment. The Morris Water Maze (MWM) test showed that masticatory-deprived group, regardless of environment, was not able to learn and remember the hidden platform location, but masticatory rehabilitation combined with enriched environment recovered such disabilities. Microscopic three-dimensional reconstructions of 1,800 glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-immunolabeled astrocytes from the external third of the MolDG were generated using a stereological systematic and random sampling approach. Hierarchical cluster analysis allowed the characterization into two main groups of astrocytes with greater and lower morphological complexities, respectively, AST1 and AST2. When compared to compared to the hard diet group subjected to impoverished environment, deprived animals maintained in the same environment for 6 months showed remarkable shrinkage of astrocyte branches. However, the long-term environmental enrichment (18-month-old) applied to the deprived group reversed the shrinkage effect, with significant increase in the morphological complexity of AST1 and AST2, when in an impoverished or enriched environment. During housing under enriched environment, complexity of branches of AST1 and AST2 was reduced by the powder diet (pellet followed by powder regimes) in young but not in old mice, where it was reversed by pellet diet (pellet followed by powder and pellet regime again). The same was not true for mice housed under impoverished environment. Interestingly, we were unable to find any correlation between MWM data and astrocyte morphological changes. Our findings indicate that both young and aged mice subjected to environmental enrichment, and under normal or rehabilitated masticatory activity, preserve spatial learning and memory. Nonetheless, data suggest that an impoverished environment and reduced mastication synergize to aggravate age-related cognitive decline; however, the association with morphological diversity of AST1 and AST2 at the MolDG requires further investigation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miwa Nahata ◽  
Sachiko Mogami ◽  
Hitomi Sekine ◽  
Seiichi Iizuka ◽  
Naoto Okubo ◽  
...  

AbstractChronic undernutrition contributes to the increase in frailty observed among elderly adults, which is a pressing issue in the sector of health care for older people worldwide. Autophagy, an intracellular recycling system, is closely associated with age-related pathologies. Therefore, decreased autophagy in aging could be involved in the disruption of energy homeostasis that occurs during undernutrition; however, the physiological mechanisms underlying this process remain unknown. Here, we showed that 70% daily food restriction (FR) induced fatal hypoglycemia in 23–26-month-old (aged) mice, which exhibited significantly lower hepatic autophagy than 9-week-old (young) mice. The liver expressions of Bcl-2, an autophagy-negative regulator, and Beclin1–Bcl-2 binding, were increased in aged mice compared with young mice. The autophagy inducer Tat-Beclin1 D11, not the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin, decreased the plasma levels of the glucogenic amino acid and restored the blood glucose levels in aged FR mice. Decreased liver gluconeogenesis, body temperature, physical activity, amino acid metabolism, and hepatic mitochondrial dynamics were observed in the aged FR mice. These changes were restored by treatment with hochuekkito that is a herbal formula containing several autophagy-activating ingredients. Our results indicate that Bcl-2 upregulation in the liver during the aging process disturbs autophagy activation, which increases the vulnerability to undernutrition. The promotion of liver autophagy may offer clinical therapeutic benefits to frail elderly patients.


Author(s):  
Sujeong Yang ◽  
Sylvain Gigout ◽  
Angelo Molinaro ◽  
Yuko Naito-Matsui ◽  
Sam Hilton ◽  
...  

AbstractPerineuronal nets (PNNs) are chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan-containing structures on the neuronal surface that have been implicated in the control of neuroplasticity and memory. Age-related reduction of chondroitin 6-sulphates (C6S) leads to PNNs becoming more inhibitory. Here, we investigated whether manipulation of the chondroitin sulphate (CS) composition of the PNNs could restore neuroplasticity and alleviate memory deficits in aged mice. We first confirmed that aged mice (20-months) showed memory and plasticity deficits. They were able to retain or regain their cognitive ability when CSs were digested or PNNs were attenuated. We then explored the role of C6S in memory and neuroplasticity. Transgenic deletion of chondroitin 6-sulfotransferase (chst3) led to a reduction of permissive C6S, simulating aged brains. These animals showed very early memory loss at 11 weeks old. Importantly, restoring C6S levels in aged animals rescued the memory deficits and restored cortical long-term potentiation, suggesting a strategy to improve age-related memory impairment.


Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wassim Fhayli ◽  
Quentin Boëté ◽  
Nadjib Kihal ◽  
Valérie Cenizo ◽  
Pascal Sommer ◽  
...  

Elastic fibers (90% elastin, 10% fibrillin-rich microfibrils) are synthesized only in early life and adolescence mainly by the vascular smooth muscle cells through the cross-linking of its soluble precursor, tropoelastin. Elastic fibers endow the large elastic arteries with resilience and elasticity. Normal vascular aging is associated with arterial remodeling and stiffening, especially due to the end of production and degradation of elastic fibers, leading to altered cardiovascular function. Several pharmacological treatments stimulate the production of elastin and elastic fibers. In particular, dill extract (DE) has been demonstrated to stimulate elastin production in vitro in dermal equivalent models and in skin fibroblasts to increase lysyl oxidase–like-1 (LOXL-1) gene expression, an enzyme contributing to tropoelastin crosslinking and elastin formation. Here, we have investigated the effects of a chronic treatment (three months) of aged male mice with DE (5% or 10% v/v, in drinking water) on the structure and function of the ascending aorta. DE treatment, especially at 10%, of aged mice protected pre-existing elastic lamellae, reactivated tropoelastin and LOXL-1 expressions, induced elastic fiber neo-synthesis, and decreased the stiffness of the aging aortic wall, probably explaining the reversal of the age-related cardiac hypertrophy also observed following the treatment. DE could thus be considered as an anti-aging product for the cardiovascular system.


1985 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 925-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Affolter ◽  
C. Hertel ◽  
K. Jaeggi ◽  
M. Portenier ◽  
M. Staehelin

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Rodriguez-Menocal ◽  
Si M. Pham ◽  
Dania Mateu ◽  
Melissa St-Pierre ◽  
Yuntao Wei ◽  
...  

Alteration of VSMC (vascular smooth-muscle cell) physiology is associated with the development of atherosclerosis and restenosis. We hypothesize that aging up-regulates the expression of p16INK4a in VSMCs, which may increase the susceptibility of blood vessels to vascular occlusive diseases. Aortic VSMCs were obtained from young and aged mice. Cells from aged mice grew more slowly than those from their younger counterparts. Progression of cell cycle in response to serum stimulation was significantly inhibited in those cells with aging, as determined by FACS after propidium iodide staining. A significant up-regulation of p16INK4a (2.5-fold, P=0.0012) was found in VSMC from aged animals using gene arrays. The up-regulation of this gene was further confirmed by quantitative RT–PCR (reverse transcription–PCR) and Western-blot experiments. Immunostaining for p16INK4a confirmed that aortas from aged mice contained more p16INK4a+ SMA (smooth-muscle cell actin)+ cells than aortas from young animals (26.79±2.45 versus 7.06±1.44, P=0.00027, n=4). In conclusion, we have shown that aging up-regulates the expression of p16INK4a in VSMC in both cultures and arteries. The increase in p16INK4a in the vasculature with aging may modify VSMC's response to post-injury stress and therefore accelerate the development of age-related cardiovascular diseases.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Maria Krammer ◽  
Bishan Yang ◽  
Sabrina Reichl ◽  
Verena Bolini ◽  
Corinna Schulte ◽  
...  

Atherosclerosis is a lipid-triggered chronic inflammatory condition of our arteries and the main underlying pathology of myocardial infarction and stroke. Pathogenesis is age-dependent, but the mechanistic links between disease progression, age, and atherogenic cytokines and chemokines are incompletely understood. Here, we studied the chemokine-like inflammatory cytokine macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in atherogenic Apoe-/- mice across different stages of aging and cholesterol-rich high-fat diet (HFD). MIF promotes atherosclerosis by mediating atherogenic monocyte and T-cell recruitment, amplifying lesional inflammation, and suppressing atheroprotective B-cell responses. However, age-related links between atherogenesis and MIF and its role in advanced atherosclerosis in aged mice have not been systematically explored. We compared effects of global Mif-gene deficiency in 30-, 42-, and 48-week-old Apoe-/- mice on HFD for 24, 36, or 42 weeks, respectively, and in 52-week-old mice on a 6-week HFD. While a regio-specific atheroprotective phenotype of Mif-deficiency was observed in the 30/24-week-old group, atheroprotection was not detected in the 48/42- and 52/6-week-old groups, suggesting that atheroprotection afforded by global Mif-gene deletion differs across aging stages and atherogenic diet duration. We identify a combination of mechanisms that could explain this phenotype: i) Mif-deficiency promotes lesional Trem2+ macrophage numbers in younger but not aged mice; ii) Mif-deficiency favors formation of lymphocyte-rich stage-I/II ATLOs in younger mice but ATLO numbers equalize with those in Apoe-/- controls in the older mice; and iii) plasma anti-oxLDL-IgM antibody levels are decreased in aged Mif-deficient mice. Of note, these three markers (Trem2+ macrophages, ATLOs, anti-oxLDL-IgM antibodies) have been previously linked to atheroprotection. Together, our study thus suggests that regio-specific atheroprotection due to global Mif-gene deficiency in atherogenic Apoe-/- mice is lost upon advanced aging and identifies mechanisms that could explain this phenotype shift. These observations may have implications for translational MIF-directed strategies.


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