Ghrelin ameliorates cognitive dysfunction and neurodegeneration in intrahippocampal amyloid-β1-42 oligomer-injected mice

J Alzheimers Dis. 2011;23(1):147-59. doi: 10.3233/JAD-2010-101263.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder characterized by cognitive deficits, neuroinflammation, and loss of neurons. Recently, it has been shown that ghrelin, a 28 amino acid peptide hormone produced from the stomach and hypothalamus, has been reported as a potential therapeutic agent for several neurological disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD), stroke, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injury. Here we determined the effects of ghrelin on memory impairments and neuropathological changes in an AD mouse model induced by intrahippocampal injection of amyloid-β oligomers (AβO). We report that ghrelin: 1) rescues memory deficits in mice injected with AβO in the hippocampus; 2) decreases AβO-induced microgliosis in hippocampus; 3) attenuates hippocampal neuronal loss mediated by AβO; 4) prevents AβO-associated synaptic degeneration including cholinergic fiber loss. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that ghrelin can ameliorate AβO-induced cognitive impairment associated with neuroinflammation and neuronal loss. These results suggest that ghrelin may be a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of AD.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / toxicity
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Animals
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Choline O-Acetyltransferase / metabolism
  • Cognition Disorders / chemically induced
  • Cognition Disorders / drug therapy*
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Exploratory Behavior / drug effects
  • Gene Expression Regulation / drug effects
  • Ghrelin / therapeutic use*
  • Hippocampus / cytology
  • Hippocampus / drug effects
  • Hippocampus / physiopathology*
  • Male
  • Maze Learning / drug effects
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred ICR
  • Neurodegenerative Diseases / chemically induced
  • Neurodegenerative Diseases / drug therapy*
  • Neurons / drug effects
  • Peptide Fragments / toxicity
  • Synaptophysin / metabolism

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Ghrelin
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Synaptophysin
  • amyloid beta-protein (1-42)
  • Choline O-Acetyltransferase