Nan Zhang, Yixuan Sui, Peter Jendrichovsky, Hemin Feng, Heng Shi, Xu Zhang, Shenghui Xu, Wenjian Sun, Huatang Zhang, Xi Chen, Micky D Tortorella, Jufang He
{"title":"Cholecystokinin B receptor agonists alleviates anterograde amnesia in cholecystokinin-deficient and aged Alzheimer's disease mice.","authors":"Nan Zhang, Yixuan Sui, Peter Jendrichovsky, Hemin Feng, Heng Shi, Xu Zhang, Shenghui Xu, Wenjian Sun, Huatang Zhang, Xi Chen, Micky D Tortorella, Jufang He","doi":"10.1186/s13195-024-01472-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>As one major symptom of Alzheimer's disease (AD), anterograde amnesia describes patients with an inability in new memory formation. The crucial role of the entorhinal cortex in forming new memories has been well established, and the neuropeptide cholecystokinin (CCK) is reported to be released from the entorhinal cortex to enable neocortical associated memory and long-term potentiation. Though several studies reveal that the entorhinal cortex and CCK are related to AD, it is less well studied. It is unclear whether CCK is a good biomarker or further a great drug candidate for AD.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>mRNA expressions of CCK and CCK-B receptor (CCKBR) were examined in two mouse models, 3xTg AD and CCK knock-out (CCK<sup>-/-</sup>) mice. Animals' cognition was investigated with Morris water maze, novel object recognition test and neuroplasticity with in-vitro electrophysiological recording. Drugs were given intraperitoneally to animals to investigate the rescue effects on cognitive deficits, or applied to brain slices directly to explore the influence in inducement of long-term potentiation.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Aged 3xTg AD mice exhibited reduced CCK mRNA expression in the entorhinal cortex but reduced CCKBR expression in the neocortex and hippocampus, and impaired cognition and neuroplasticity comparable with CCK<sup>-/-</sup> mice. Importantly, the animals displayed improved performance and enhanced long-term potentiation after the treatment of CCKBR agonists.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Here we provide more evidence to support the role of CCK in learning and memory and its potential to treat AD. We elaborated on the rescue effect of a promising novel drug, HT-267, on aged 3xTg AD mice. Although the physiological etiology of CCK in AD still needs to be further investigated, this study sheds light on a potential pharmaceutical candidate for AD and dementia.</p>","PeriodicalId":7516,"journal":{"name":"Alzheimer's Research & Therapy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11094875/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Alzheimer's Research & Therapy","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-024-01472-1","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: As one major symptom of Alzheimer's disease (AD), anterograde amnesia describes patients with an inability in new memory formation. The crucial role of the entorhinal cortex in forming new memories has been well established, and the neuropeptide cholecystokinin (CCK) is reported to be released from the entorhinal cortex to enable neocortical associated memory and long-term potentiation. Though several studies reveal that the entorhinal cortex and CCK are related to AD, it is less well studied. It is unclear whether CCK is a good biomarker or further a great drug candidate for AD.
Methods: mRNA expressions of CCK and CCK-B receptor (CCKBR) were examined in two mouse models, 3xTg AD and CCK knock-out (CCK-/-) mice. Animals' cognition was investigated with Morris water maze, novel object recognition test and neuroplasticity with in-vitro electrophysiological recording. Drugs were given intraperitoneally to animals to investigate the rescue effects on cognitive deficits, or applied to brain slices directly to explore the influence in inducement of long-term potentiation.
Results: Aged 3xTg AD mice exhibited reduced CCK mRNA expression in the entorhinal cortex but reduced CCKBR expression in the neocortex and hippocampus, and impaired cognition and neuroplasticity comparable with CCK-/- mice. Importantly, the animals displayed improved performance and enhanced long-term potentiation after the treatment of CCKBR agonists.
Conclusions: Here we provide more evidence to support the role of CCK in learning and memory and its potential to treat AD. We elaborated on the rescue effect of a promising novel drug, HT-267, on aged 3xTg AD mice. Although the physiological etiology of CCK in AD still needs to be further investigated, this study sheds light on a potential pharmaceutical candidate for AD and dementia.
期刊介绍:
Alzheimer's Research & Therapy is an international peer-reviewed journal that focuses on translational research into Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. It publishes open-access basic research, clinical trials, drug discovery and development studies, and epidemiologic studies. The journal also includes reviews, viewpoints, commentaries, debates, and reports. All articles published in Alzheimer's Research & Therapy are included in several reputable databases such as CAS, Current contents, DOAJ, Embase, Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, MEDLINE, PubMed, PubMed Central, Science Citation Index Expanded (Web of Science) and Scopus.