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 showed that the protection against dementia can be passed on to their offspring for the first time. The results of the study, which was led by Jeff Gidday (Professor of Ophthalmology and Biochemistry, Neuroscience, Physiology), were published in Alzheimers & Dementia. Here.
Dr. Gidday says that vascular dementia, like Alzheimers, is complex and requires effective therapies.
The hypothesis that epigenetics (changes in behavior and the environment that trigger changes in genes’ turn on/off) may give resilience to VCI was tested by the researchers.
We also tested the hypothesis, that epigenetic therapy modifies germ cells (eggs or sperm), so that the offspring of animals that received this therapy before mating would inherit VCI resilience. This is in contrast to direct treatment, Dr. Gidday states.
Scientists found that repetitive, physiologic exposures of mice to low oxygen content environmental hypoxia air for one hour per days, three times per week, over two consecutive months, prevented loss recognition memory. It also reversed impairments nerve-to-nerve communication within the hippocampus, which is a key brain area involved 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 is the second leading cause for dementia. 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 that can be seen in the brains and brains of people with vascular disease include diseased small blood vessels, changes in white matter, and changes in the connecting wires of brains that are crucial for relaying messages between brain areas.
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 show that epigenetic treatments may be promising in preventing memory loss, dementia-related symptoms, and that they may also be able to increase the resilience of first-generation offspring, Dr. Gidday concludes.
Krystal Courtney, a recent Physiology graduate, was also part of the LSU Health New Orleans research group. Eleanor B. Holmgren is a Cell Biology & Anatomy graduate student. Tiffany Wills, PhD Assistant Professor of Cell Biology & Anatomy.
Refer to: 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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