A coral‐derived compound suppresses hippocampal inflammation and improved memory retrieval in triple transgenic Alzheimer’s mice

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThe relationship between neuronal inflammation and impairment of memory retrieval is not well established, partially because of the lack of appropriate compound to test this hypothesis. Here we investigated effects of a novel coral‐derived compound on hippocampal inflammation markers and contextual fear memory retrieval using a triple‐transgenic AD (3xTg‐AD) mouse modelMethodThe coral‐derived compound was administered to mice with intraperitoneal injection before subjected to trace fear conditioning. Expression of inflammation markers were measured by western blot analysis or flourescent immunihistochemijcal staining.ResultResults indicate that coral‐derived compound is effective on reducing expression levels of inflammatory markers including TNF‐α, COX‐2, and iNOS in the hippocamapal region, and increased expression of postsynaptic density protein‐95 (PSD‐95) in the hippocampus of 3xTg‐AD mice. It also increased dendritic spine density in hippocampus. Phenotypically, this compound enhanced hippocampadependent retrieval of contextual memory after trace fear conditioning.ConclusionOur results suggest the strong linkage between hippocampal inflammation and memory retrieval in AD, and that the coral‐derived compound may serve as a drug leading for a hippocampal anti‐inflammatory treatment to improve memory retrieval in AD patients.