1. Ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide rescues learning and memory impairments in a triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease by exerting anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects
- Author
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Caterina Scuderi, Maria Rosanna Bronzuoli, Roberta Facchinetti, Lorenzo Pace, Luca Ferraro, Kevin Donald Broad, Gaetano Serviddio, Francesco Bellanti, Gianmauro Palombelli, Giulia Carpinelli, Rossella Canese, Silvana Gaetani, Luca Steardo, and Tommaso Cassano
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Male ,Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ,Microdialysis ,Anti-Inflammatory Agents ,Hippocampus ,Palmitic Acidstau Proteins ,129 Strain ,Inbred C57BL ,Transgenic ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Mice ,0302 clinical medicine ,Hippocampal ,3×Tg-AD mice ,Behavior, Animal ,Neurodegeneration ,Age Factors ,food and beverages ,Alzheimer's disease ,palmitoylethanolamide ,astrocyte ,MRI/MRS ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Neuroprotective Agents ,Ethanolamines ,Mice, 129 Strain ,Context (language use) ,Mice, Transgenic ,tau Proteins ,Palmitic Acids ,Neuroprotection ,Article ,NO ,lcsh:RC321-571 ,03 medical and health sciences ,Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience ,Neurochemical ,Alzheimer Disease ,medicine ,Animals ,Learning ,Cognitive Dysfunction ,CA1 Region, Hippocampal ,lcsh:Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,Biological Psychiatry ,Neuroinflammation ,Inflammation ,Behavior ,Palmitoylethanolamide ,Memory Disorders ,Amyloid beta-Peptides ,Animal ,business.industry ,medicine.disease ,Symptomatic relief ,Amides ,Mice, Inbred C57BL ,Disease Models, Animal ,030104 developmental biology ,chemistry ,Disease Models ,Age Factors, Alzheimer Disease, Amyloid beta-Peptides, Animals, Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Behavior, AnimalCA1 Region, Hippocampal, Cognitive Dysfunction, Disease Models, Animal, Ethanolamines, Inflammation, Learning, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Male, Memory Disorders, Mice, Mice, 129 Strain, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Transgenic, Microdialysis, Neuroprotective Agents, Palmitic Acidstau Proteins ,AnimalCA1 Region ,business ,Neuroscience ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
In an aging society, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) exerts an increasingly serious health and economic burden. Current treatments provide inadequate symptomatic relief as several distinct pathological processes are thought to underlie the decline of cognitive and neural function seen in AD. This suggests that the efficacy of treatment requires a multitargeted approach. In this context, palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) provides a novel potential adjunct therapy that can be incorporated into a multitargeted treatment strategy. We used young (6-month-old) and adult (12-month-old) 3×Tg-AD mice that received ultramicronized PEA (um-PEA) for 3 months via a subcutaneous delivery system. Mice were tested with a range of cognitive and noncognitive tasks, scanned with magnetic resonance imaging/magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRI/MRS), and neurochemical release was assessed by microdialysis. Potential neuropathological mechanisms were assessed postmortem by western blot, reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and immunofluorescence. Our data demonstrate that um-PEA improves learning and memory, and ameliorates both the depressive and anhedonia-like phenotype of 3×Tg-AD mice. Moreover, it reduces Aβ formation, the phosphorylation of tau proteins, and promotes neuronal survival in the CA1 subregion of the hippocampus. Finally, um-PEA normalizes astrocytic function, rebalances glutamatergic transmission, and restrains neuroinflammation. The efficacy of um-PEA is particularly potent in younger mice, suggesting its potential as an early treatment. These data demonstrate that um-PEA is a novel and effective promising treatment for AD with the potential to be integrated into a multitargeted treatment strategy in combination with other drugs. Um-PEA is already registered for human use. This, in combination with our data, suggests the potential to rapidly proceed to clinical use.
- Published
- 2018
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