A research team from LSU Health New Orleans discovered that memory loss was prevented by repeated exposure to environmental hypoxia (air with a lower-than-normal oxygen level).
They also demonstrated that children can inherit this protection from dementia for the first-time. The study by Jeff Gidday, PhD (Professor of Ophthalmology Biochemistry Neuroscience and Physiology), was published in Alzheimers & Dementia. Here.
Dr. Gidday notes that vascular dementia is similar to Alzheimers in that the molecular mechanisms are complex and that effective treatments are still lacking.
Researchers tested the hypothesis that epigenetics changes, which are changes in behavior or environment that trigger changes to the way genes turn on or off, may be able to provide resilience for VCI.
We also tested the hypothesis of epigenetic treatment that modifies germ cells (eggs, sperm) so that adult offspring of animals receiving this treatment prior to mating would inherit VCI resilience. Dr. Gidday says.
Researchers found that repeated exposures to hypoxia air at low oxygen levels for mice, similar to what we experience at high elevation, for an hour per day, for three consecutive weeks, prevented loss in recognition memory. They also reversed impairments in nerve to nerve communication in the hippocampus. This brain region is crucial in memory consolidation. The same resilience to memory impairment was observed in adult offspring of another group of mice, which had been exposed to repetitive hypoxia for a period of time before mating.
Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is the second leading cause. According to the National Institutes of Health it can be caused by a variety of conditions that disrupt blood flow and oxygen supply to brain and damage blood vessels. These conditions can include previous strokes, which can be subtle and not easily noticed. Other abnormalities seen in the brains in people with vascular dementia include diseased small blood vessel changes and changes to white matter. These are vital for relaying messages among brain regions.
The study also revealed that the mice’s adaptive epigenetics treatment prevented the loss of white matter. This is another human-like feature in the mouse dementia model.
These results suggest that epigenetic therapies might be able to prevent memory loss and other manifestations associated with dementia. Dr. Gidday concludes that the disease resilience induced by these therapies may also pass on to future generations.
The LSU Health New Orleans research team also included Krystal Courtney D.Belmonte, PhD, a recent Physiology graduate; Eleanor B. Holmgren, Cell Biology & Anatomy graduate; and Tiffany Wills PhD, Assistant Professor, Cell Biology & Anatomy.
Reference: Belmonte KCD, Holmgren EB, Wills TA, Gidday JM. In a mouse model for vascular cognitive impairment, epigenetic conditioning instills intergenerational resilience against dementia. Alzheimers & Dementia. n/a(n/a). doi:10.1002/alz.12616
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