Huafeng Jin, Tingting Chen, Guoxi Li, Conghui Wang, Baofeng Zhang, Xinyuan Cao, Sha Sha, Qi Wan, Ling Chen, Jin, Huafeng, Chen, Tingting, Li, Guoxi, Wang, Conghui, Zhang, Baofeng, Cao, Xinyuan, Sha, Sha, Wan, Qi, and Chen, Ling
Background: Simvastatin (SV) has been reported to improve dementia and slow progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD), however there are conflicting reports.Objective& Methods: Intracerebroventricular injection of aggregated Aβ1-42 in mice (Aβ1-42-mice) caused spatial cognitive deficits, long-term potentiation (LTP) impairment, and death of hippocampal pyramidal cells. The present study focused on exploring the dose-dependent effects of SV (10-80 mg/kg) on Aβ1-42-impaired spatial memory and the underlying mechanisms.Results: The treatment of Aβ1-42-mice with SV for continuous 15 days could attenuate the spatial cognitive deficits and recover the LTP induction in a "U" type dose-dependent manner. The death of pyramidal cells in Aβ1-42-mice was significantly reduced by the SV-treatment at 20 mg/kg, but not at a dose of 10 or 40 mg/kg, even was aggravated at a dose of 80 mg/kg. Hippocampal NMDA receptor (NMDAr) NR2B phosphorylation (phospho-NR2B) was elevated in Aβ1-42-mice, which was further dose-dependently increased by SV-treatment. Replenishment of isoprenoid farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP) by applying farnesol (FOH) could abolish the SV-increased phospho-NR2B in Aβ1-42-mice, but had no effect on the Aβ1-42-enhanced phospho-NR2B. NMDAr antagonist blocked the neurotoxicity of Aβ1-42 and SV (80 mg/kg) in Aβ1-42-mice, whereas FOH only inhibited SV (80 mg/kg)-neurotoxicity. The SV-treatment in Aβ1-42-mice corrected the decrease in hippocampal Akt phosphorylation. The PI3K inhibitor abolished the SV (20 mg/kg)-neuroprotection in Aβ1-42-mice.Conclusion: SV-treatment in Aβ1-42-mice exerts dose-dependent neuroprotection and neurotoxicity by reducing FPP to enhance the phosphorylation of NR2B and Akt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]