scholarly journals Supplementation with N-Acetyl Cysteine Affects Motor and Cognitive Function in Young but Not Old Mice

2019 ◽  
Vol 149 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-470
Author(s):  
Uzoma S Ikonne ◽  
Philip H Vann ◽  
Jessica M Wong ◽  
Michael J Forster ◽  
Nathalie Sumien
Keyword(s):  
Morris Water Maze ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Control Diet ◽  
Dietary Supplementation ◽  
Redox Status ◽  
Preclinical Study ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Acetyl Cysteine ◽  
Old Mice

ABSTRACT Background N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is a thiolic antioxidant that is thought to increase cellular glutathione (GSH) by augmenting the concentration of available cysteine, an essential precursor to GSH production. Manipulating redox status can affect brain function, and NAC intake has been associated with improving brain function in models of neurodegenerative diseases. Objectives The objective of the study was to determine if short-term dietary supplementation with NAC could ameliorate functional impairment associated with aging. Methods C57BL/6J male mice aged 6, 12, or 24 mo were fed a control diet or the control diet supplemented with 0.3% NAC for a total of 12 wk. After 4 wk of dietary supplementation, mice began a series of behavioral tests to measure spontaneous activity (locomotor activity test), psychomotor performance (bridge-walking and coordinated running), and cognitive capacity (Morris water maze and discriminated active avoidance). The performance of the mice on these tests was analyzed through the use of analyses of variance with Age and Diet as factors. Results Supplementation of NAC improved peak motor performance in a coordinated running task by 14% (P < 0.05), and increased the time spent around the platform by 24% in a Morris water maze at age 6 mo. However, the supplementation had no to minimal effect on the motor and cognitive functions of 12- and 24-mo-old mice. Conclusions The findings of this preclinical study support the claim that NAC has nootropic properties in 6-mo-old mice, but suggest that it may not be useful for improving motor and cognitive impairments in older mice.

scholarly journals The Neuroprotective Effect of Gugijihwang-Tang on Trimethyltin-Induced Memory Dysfunction in the Rat

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eun-Yee Jung ◽  
Mi-Sook Lee ◽  
Chang Joon Ahn ◽  
Seung-Hun Cho ◽  
Hyunsu Bae ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Learning And Memory ◽  
Morris Water Maze ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Neuroprotective Effect ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Improved Learning ◽  
Neuroprotective Action

Gugijihwang-Tang (the herbal formula PM012), a decoction consisting of several herbs includingRehmanniae Radix Preparata, has been widely used as herbal treatment for dementia. In order to investigate the neuroprotective action of this prescription, we examined the effect of Gugijihwang-Tang on learning and memory using the Morris water maze and [F-18]FDG micro PET neuroimaging technique. After injection of trimethyltin (TMT, 8.0 mg/kg, i.p.), which is a potent toxicant that selectively kills cells in the central nervous system, rats were administered Gugijihwang-Tang (100 mg/kg, p.o.) daily for two weeks, followed by the Morris water maze tasks and [F-18]FDG micro PET neuroimaging. In Gugijihwang-Tang administered TMT-treated rats, they showed improved learning and memory abilities in water maze tasks and glucose metabolism, suggesting that Gugijihwang-Tang plays effectively positive role in the improvement of brain function including learning and memory after TMT-induced neurodegeneration. Taken together, our results suggested that the Gugijihwang-Tang should be useful for developing strategies protecting nervous system and improving brain function.

scholarly journals Development rate rather than social environment influences cognitive performance in Australian black field crickets, Teleogryllus commodus

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin Anderson ◽  
Michael M Kasumovic
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Morris Water Maze ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Field Crickets ◽  
Teleogryllus Commodus ◽  
Black Field

Cognitive functioning is vital for enabling animals of all taxa to optimise their chances of survival and reproductive success. Learning and memory in particular are drivers of many evolutionary processes. The field of cognitive ecology explores how the environment can affect investment into cognitive capacity and learning ability. In this study, we examine how developmental plasticity can affect cognitive ability by exploring the role of early social environment on influencing problem solving ability and learning of female black field crickets, Teleogryllus commodus. We used two learning paradigms, an analog of the Morris water maze and a novel linear maze, to examine cognitive differences between individuals reared in two acoustic treatments: silence or calling. Although there was no evidence of learning or memory, individuals that took longer to mature solved the Morris water maze more quickly. This suggests that increased investment into cognitive development is likely associated with increased development time during immature stages. Inconsistent individual performance and motivation during the novel linear maze task highlights the difficulties of designing ecologically relevant learning tasks within a lab setting. The role of experimental design in understanding cognitive ability and learning in more natural circumstances is discussed.

scholarly journals Effects of Melatonin Supplementation during Pregnancy on Reproductive Performance, Maternal–Placental–Fetal Redox Status, and Placental Mitochondrial Function in a Sow Model

Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1867
Author(s):  
Xie Peng ◽  
Xuelin Cai ◽  
Jian Li ◽  
Yingyan Huang ◽  
Hao Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inflammatory Response ◽  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Mitochondrial Function ◽  
Pregnancy Complications ◽  
Antioxidant Status ◽  
Control Diet ◽  
Dietary Supplementation ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Redox Status ◽  
Mrna Levels

Melatonin (MT) is a bio-antioxidant that has been widely used to prevent pregnancy complications, such as pre-eclampsia and IUGR during gestation. This experiment evaluated the impacts of dietary MT supplementation during pregnancy on reproductive performance, maternal–placental–fetal redox status, placental inflammatory response, and mitochondrial function, and sought a possible underlying mechanism in the placenta. Sixteen fifth parity sows were divided into two groups and fed each day of the gestation period either a control diet or a diet that was the same but for 36 mg of MT. The results showed that dietary supplementation with MT increased placental weight, while the percentage of piglets born with weight < 900 g decreased. Meanwhile, serum and placental MT levels, maternal–placental–fetal redox status, and placental inflammatory response were increased by MT. In addition, dietary MT markedly increased the mRNA levels of nutrient transporters and antioxidant-related genes involved in the Nrf2/ARE pathway in the placenta. Furthermore, dietary MT significantly increased ATP and NAD+ levels, relative mtDNA content, and the protein expression of Sirt1 in the placenta. These results suggested that MT supplementation during gestation could improve maternal–placental–fetal redox status and reproductive performance by ameliorating placental antioxidant status, inflammatory response, and mitochondrial dysfunction.

scholarly journals Development rate rather than social environment influences cognitive performance in Australian black field crickets, Teleogryllus commodus

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin Anderson ◽  
Michael M Kasumovic
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Morris Water Maze ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Field Crickets ◽  
Teleogryllus Commodus ◽  
Black Field

Cognitive functioning is vital for enabling animals of all taxa to optimise their chances of survival and reproductive success. Learning and memory in particular are drivers of many evolutionary processes. The field of cognitive ecology explores how the environment can affect investment into cognitive capacity and learning ability. In this study, we examine how developmental plasticity can affect cognitive ability by exploring the role of early social environment on influencing problem solving ability and learning of female black field crickets, Teleogryllus commodus. We used two learning paradigms, an analog of the Morris water maze and a novel linear maze, to examine cognitive differences between individuals reared in two acoustic treatments: silence or calling. Although there was no evidence of learning or memory, individuals that took longer to mature solved the Morris water maze more quickly. This suggests that increased investment into cognitive development is likely associated with increased development time during immature stages. Inconsistent individual performance and motivation during the novel linear maze task highlights the difficulties of designing ecologically relevant learning tasks within a lab setting. The role of experimental design in understanding cognitive ability and learning in more natural circumstances is discussed.

scholarly journals Yuk-Mi-Jihwang-Tang, a Traditional Korean Multiple Herbal Formulae, Improves Hippocampal Memory on Scopolamine Injection-Induced Amnesia Model of C57BL/6 Mice

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hye-Lim Lee ◽  
Sung-Ah Lim ◽  
Hye-Won Lee ◽  
Ho-Ryong Yoo ◽  
Hyeong-Geug Kim
Keyword(s):  
Morris Water Maze ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
Redox Status ◽  
Acetylcholine Esterase ◽  
Maze Task ◽  
Water Maze Task ◽  
Protein Levels ◽  
Morris Water Maze Task ◽  
Esterase Activities

We evaluated neuropharmacological properties of Yuk-Mi-Jihwang-Tang (YJT) against scopolamine injection-induced memory impairment mice model. Mice were orally administered with YJT (50, 100, or 200 mg/kg) or tacrine (TAC, 12.5 mg/kg) for 10 days. At the first day of Morris water maze task, scopolamine (2 mg/kg) was intraperitoneally injected before 30 min of it. The hippocampal memory function was determined by the Morris water maze task for 5 days consecutively. Scopolamine drastically increased escape latency and decreased time spent in target quadrant. Pretreatment YJT properly improved them. Regarding the redox status, YJT significantly reduced the oxidative stress and it also exerted much effort to improve both superoxide dismutase and catalase activities in hippocampal gene expression and protein levels. These effects were well coincided with immunohistochemical analysis of 4-hydroxyneal-positive signals in hippocampal areas. Additionally, acetylcholine esterase activities and brain-derived neurotrophic factor abnormalities in the hippocampal protein levels were significantly normalized by YJT, and their related molecules were also improved. The neuronal proliferation in hippocampal regions was markedly inhibited by scopolamine, whereas YJT notably recovered them. Collectively, YJT exerts much effort to enhance memorial functions through improving redox status homeostasis and partially regulates acetylcholine esterase activities as well as neuronal cell proliferation.

CONTEXTUAL LEARNING IN THE MORRIS WATER MAZE

2018 ◽  
pp. 13-20
Author(s):  
Е.И. Захарова ◽  
З.И. Сторожева ◽  
А.Т. Прошин ◽  
М.Ю. Монаков ◽  
А.М. Дудченко
Keyword(s):  
Morris Water Maze ◽  
Choline Acetyltransferase ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Synaptic Membranes ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Synaptic Organization ◽  
Acetyltransferase Activity ◽  
Cholinergic Interneurons ◽  
Late Stages ◽  
Choline Acetyltransferase Activity

Цель - исследование холинергической синаптической организации функций обучения и памяти у крыс с разными когнитивными способностями. Методы. Крыс обучали на пространственной обстановочной модели в водном лабиринте Морриса. Через 2-3 сут. после окончания тренировок животных декапитировали, из неокортекса и гиппокампа с помощью центрифугирования выделяли субфракции синаптических мембран и синаптоплазмы легких и тяжелых синаптосом. В синаптических субфракциях определяли активность ключевого фермента холинергических нейронов холинацетилтрансферазы (ХАТ). Сравнивали результаты тестирования (время достижения скрытой платформы) и активность фермента у способных и неспособных к обучению крыс. Результаты. Были выявлены: 1) различия в холинергической организации исследованных функций в процессе обучения у способных и неспособных к обучению крыс, в том числе: положительные корреляции активности ХАТ в синапсах проекционных нейронов неокортекса у способных крыс со временем достижения платформы на промежуточных этапах обучения и в синапсах проекционных нейронов гиппокампа у неспособных крыс на позднем этапе обучения; разнонаправленные корреляции активности ХАТ в синапсах, предположительно, интернейронов гиппокампа (фракция тяжелых синаптосом) у способных и неспособных крыс на начальном и позднем этапах обучения; 2) индивидуальность холинергической организации функций на всех этапах обучения. Выводы. Полученные данные свидетельствуют в пользу представлений о специфике холинергической организации функций пространственного обстановочного обучения у крыс с выраженными и слабыми способностями к обучению, а также избирательной роли холинергических интернейронов гиппокампа на исходном этапе обучения и в консолидации памяти. In order to expand the knowledge about neuronal organization of the cognitive functions required for understanding plastic processes in the brain, we investigated the cholinergic synaptic organization of learning and memory functions in rats with different cognitive abilities. Methods. Rats were trained on a contextual situation model in the Morris water maze. At 2-3 days after the end of training, animals were decapitated, and subfractions of synaptic membranes and synaptoplasm of light and heavy synaptosomes were isolated from the cortex and the hippocampus by centrifugation. In synaptic subfractions, activity of the key enzyme of cholinergic neurons, choline acetyltransferase, was measured. We compared the test results (latent period to reach the hidden platform) and the enzyme activity in capable (lower quartile) and incapable of learning rats (upper quartile). Results. The following was found: 1) differences in the cholinergic organization of studied functions in capable and uncapable of learning rats during training, including: positive correlations of choline acetyltransferase activity in synapses of projection neurons in the cortex of capable rats with latency to reach the platform at intermediate stages of training and in the hippocampus ofincapable rats at late stages of training; multidirectional correlations of choline acetyltransferase activity in synapses of hippocampal, presumably, interneurons (heavy synaptosomes) in capable and incapable rats at early and late stages of training; 2) distinctness of the cholinergic organization of functions at all stages of training. Conclusions. The study demonstrated for the first time a specificity of the cholinergic organization of functions in spatial situational learning of rats with strong and poor learning abilities and a selective role of hippocampal cholinergic interneurons at the initial stage of learning and in memory consolidation.

scholarly journals Methionine restriction plus overload improves skeletal muscle and metabolic health in old mice on a high fat diet

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anandini Swaminathan ◽  
Andrej Fokin ◽  
Tomas Venckūnas ◽  
Hans Degens
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Glucose Tolerance ◽  
Muscle Mass ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
High Fat Diet ◽  
Control Diet ◽  
Metabolic Health ◽  
High Fat ◽  
Methionine Restriction ◽  
Old Mice

AbstractMethionine restriction (MR) has been shown to reduce the age-induced inflammation. We examined the effect of MR (0.17% methionine, 10% kCal fat) and MR + high fat diet (HFD) (0.17% methionine, 45% kCal fat) on body mass, food intake, glucose tolerance, resting energy expenditure, hind limb muscle mass, denervation-induced atrophy and overload-induced hypertrophy in young and old mice. In old mice, MR and MR + HFD induced a decrease in body mass. Muscle mass per body mass was lower in old compared to young mice. MR restored some of the HFD-induced reduction in muscle oxidative capacity. The denervation-induced atrophy of the m. gastrocnemius was larger in animals on MR than on a control diet, irrespective of age. Old mice on MR had larger hypertrophy of m. plantaris. Irrespective of age, MR and MR + HFD had better glucose tolerance compared to the other groups. Young and old mice on MR + HFD had a higher resting VO2 per body mass than HFD group. Mice on MR and MR + HFD had a resting respiratory quotient closer to 0.70, irrespective of age, indicating an increased utilization of lipids. In conclusion, MR in combination with resistance training may improve skeletal muscle and metabolic health in old age even in the face of obesity.

scholarly journals Beneficial effect of retigabine on memory in rats receiving ethanol

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Zwierzyńska ◽  
Agata Krupa-Burtnik ◽  
Bogusława Pietrzak
Keyword(s):  
Beneficial Effect ◽  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Morris Water Maze ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Experimental Models ◽  
Male Rats ◽  
Ethanol Administration ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Oral Gavage ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Retigabine belongs to the novel generation of antiepileptic drugs but its complex mechanism of action causes that the drug might be effective in other diseases, for instance, alcohol dependence. It is known that ethanol abuse impaired the function of brain structures associated with memory and learning such as the hippocampus. In our previous study, retigabine reduced hippocampal changes induced by ethanol in the EEG rhythms in rabbits. This study is focused on the impact of retigabine on memory processes in male rats receiving alcohol. Methods Memory was evaluated in various experimental models: Morris water maze, Contextual, and Cued Fear Conditioning tests. Retigabine was administered for 3 weeks directly to the stomach via oral gavage at a dose of 10 mg/kg. Rats received also 20% ethanol (5 g/kg/day in two doses) via oral gavage for 3 weeks and had free access to 5% ethanol in the afternoon and at night. Morris water maze was performed after 1 and 3 weeks of ethanol administration and after 1 week from the discontinuation of ethanol administration. Contextual and Cued Fear Conditioning tests were carried out after 24 h and 72 h of alcohol discontinuation. Results The drug significantly decreased ethanol-induced memory disturbances during alcohol administration as well as slightly improved learning processes after the discontinuation of ethanol administration. Conclusions This beneficial effect of retigabine-ethanol interaction on memory may be a relevant element of the drug’s impact on the development of addiction.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document