Abstract
The destruction of the homeostasis in the gut-brain axis can lead to cognitive impairment and memory decline. Dietary intervention with bioactive peptides from aquatic products is an innovative strategy to prevent cognitive deficits. The present study aimed to determine the neuroprotective effect of tilapia head protein hydrolysate (THPH) on scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment in mice, and to further explore its mechanism through the microbiota–gut-brain axis. The results showed that THPH administration significantly improved the cognitive behavior of mice, and normalized the cholinergic system and oxidative stress system of the mice brain. The histopathological observation showed that THPH administration significantly reduced the pathological damage of hippocampal neurons, increased the number of mature neurons marked by NeuN and delayed the activation of astrocytes in the hippocampus of mice. In addition, THPH administration maintained the stability of cholinergic system, alleviated oxidative stress and further improved the cognitive impairment by reshaping the gut microbiota structure of scopolamine-induced mice and alleviating the disorder of lipid metabolism and amino acid metabolism in serum. In conclusion, our research shows that THPH supplementation is a nutritional strategy to alleviate cognitive impairment through the gut-brain axis.
Highlights
According to statistics, there are about 50 million people suffering from dementia worldwide, and it is estimated that the number of patients will increase to 131 million by 2050, which will bring a huge burden to society and families [1,2]
We further found that tilapia head protein hydrolysate (THPH) mainly upregulated the abundance of Actinobacteriota, Prevotellaceae UCGFoods 2021, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW001, Lactobacillus reuteri and downregulated the abundance of pathogenic bacte14rioaf 2s1uch as Desulfovibrionia through t-test (Figure 7C). These results indicated that THPH significantly altered the gut microbiome of mice with cognitive impairment induced by scopolamine
A large number of studies have shown that active protein peptides derived from natural plants and animals have many biological characteristics and wide functions, which play a positive role in improving cognitive impairment [46]
Summary
There are about 50 million people suffering from dementia worldwide, and it is estimated that the number of patients will increase to 131 million by 2050, which will bring a huge burden to society and families [1,2]. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common manifestation of dementia, and its clinical manifestation is progressive cognitive dysfunction [3] Typical symptoms of this disease include cholinergic system defects, oxidative stress, inflammation, hippocampal neuronal death, neurofibrillary tangles, and amyloid plaques [4]. Uncontrolled oxidative stress during neurodegeneration unbalanced the cholinergic system and causes brain injury, eventually leading to cognitive impairment [7,8,9]. This indicates that maintaining the homeostasis of the cholinergic system and inhibiting the development of oxidative stress are of great significance in the prevention of cognitive deficits
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