The role of sodium channel voltage-gated beta 2 (SCN2B) in brain aging is largely unknown. The present study was therefore designed to determine the role of SCN2B in brain aging by using the senescence-accelerated mice prone 8 (SAMP8), a brain senescence-accelerated animal model, together with the SCN2B transgenic mice. The results showed that SAMP8 exhibited impaired learning and memory functions, assessed by the Morris water maze test, as early as 8 months of age. The messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expressions of SCN2B were also upregulated in the prefrontal cortex at this age. Treatment with traditional Chinese anti-aging medicine Xueshuangtong (Panax notoginseng saponins, PNS) significantly reversed the SCN2B expressions in the prefrontal cortex, resulting in improved learning and memory. Moreover, SCN2B knockdown transgenic mice were generated and bred to determine the roles of SCN2B in brain senescence. A reduction in the SCN2B level by 60.68% resulted in improvement in the hippocampus-dependent spatial recognition memory and long-term potential (LTP) slope of field excitatory postsynaptic potential (fEPSP), followed by an upregulation of COX5A mRNA levels and downregulation of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) mRNA expression. Together, the present findings indicated that SCN2B could play an important role in the aging-related cognitive deterioration, which is associated with the regulations of COX5A and FGF-2. These findings could provide the potential strategy of candidate target to develop antisenescence drugs for the treatment of brain aging.
Keywords: Aging; Gastrodiae; SAMP8; SCN2B; Synaptic plasticity; Xueshuangtong.