Kong C, Shin J, Lee J, Koh C, Sim J, Na Y, Chang W, Chang J (2018) Improvements of cognitive function by focused ultrasound associated with adult hippocampal neurogenesis in immunotoxin 192-Saporin rat model of cholinergic degeneration. Neuroscience 2018 Abstracts 174.27 / JJJ31. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.
Summary: Introduction: Alzheimer’s disease is irreversible, progressive neurodegenerative disorder that destroys memory and cognitive function. Recently, focused ultrasound (FUS) has been demonstrated that FUS-mediated BBB opening induces an increase in hippocampal neurogenesis in adult rodents. In this study, we investigated the effects of FUS on memory and cognitive function after 192 IgG-saporin lesion. Materials and Methods: The present study utilized adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (200-250 g). Animals were divided into the three groups: Sham group (PBS injection), Lesion group (saporin injection), FUS group (saporin + FUS treatment). Lesion groups were injected bilaterally into the lateral ventricle. Rats were sonicated using a single-element transducer with microbubble. The acoustic parameters used for each sonication are: pressure amplitude 0.3 MPa, pulse length 10 ms, burst repetition frequency 1 Hz, and a duration of 120 s. BrdU was intraperitoneally injected two times per day for 4 consecutive days starting 24 hours after sonication. Two weeks after IgG-saporin administration, spatial memory was tested with the Morris water maze training. Results: In the water maze test, the FUS groups were significantly increased in number of crossing and platform zone, compared to the lesion group. We confirmed that the number of BrdU+, DCX+, and NeuN+ were significantly increased in the dentate gyrus following FUS sonication, compared to the lesion groups. Also, we found that the expression level of BDNF and TrkB increased in FUS group. Conclusion: Our results suggest that FUS treatments led to spatial memory improvement in cholinergic deficits rat model. Therefore, this provides evidence that the behavior changes may be mediated by increased acetylcholine activity and neuronal plasticity. Furthermore, FUS may represent a promising treatment for neurodegenerative disease, including Alzheimer’s disease because neurogenesis is associated with memory and cognitive function.
Related Products: 192-IgG-SAP (Cat. #IT-01)