Abstract
The prevalence of age-related cognitive impairment is increasing as the proportion of older individuals in the population grows. It is therefore necessary and urgent to find agents to prevent or ameliorate age-related cognitive impairment. Selenomethionine (SeMet) is a natural amino acid occurring in yeast and Brazil nuts. It mitigates cognitive impairment in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model, however, whether it works on age-related cognitive impairment remains unknown. In this study, SeMet significantly improved the performance of D-galactose-treated mice in the novel object recognition test, passive avoidance task and Morris water maze test. SeMet reversed D-galactose-induced reduction of hippocampal acetylcholine levels, suppression of choline acetyltransferase activity and activation of acetyl cholinesterase. It decreased D-galactose-induced oxidative stress and increased the selenoprotein P levels in the hippocampus. Besides, it attenuated D-galactose-induced dysbiosis by increasing the α-diversity and modulating the taxonomic structure. Correlations between certain taxa and physiological parameters were observed. Our results provide evidence of the effectiveness of SeMet on ameliorating D-galactose-induced cognitive impairment and suggest SeMet has potential to be used in the prevention or adjuvant treatment of age-related cognitive impairment.
Highlights
Selenium is an essential micronutrient for animals and humans
The results suggested that the relative abundance of genes associated with the metabolism of other amino acids, and metabolism of terpenoids and polyketides were upregulated in the model group and the relative abundance of genes associated with cell motility and environmental adaptation were downregulated in the model group
Attenuating neurotransmitter dysregulation, decreasing oxidative stress, and alleviating dysbiosis may be involved in the strategies of SeMet
Summary
Selenium is an essential micronutrient for animals and humans. Selenomethionine (SeMet) is the predominant active component in selenium supplements. It is a natural amino acid occurring in yeast and certain plants (e.g., Brazil nuts) [1]. SeMet is converted into selenocystine and used for selenoprotein synthesis. Part of it is incorporated non- into proteins as tRNAMet cannot discriminate between methionine and SeMet [2]. SeMet is more efficient in increasing the selenium level in the body than selenocystine and the average whole-body half-life of SeMet in humans is much longer than that of selenite [3].
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