A Dietary Treatment Improves Cerebral Blood Flow and Brain Connectivity in Aging apoE4 Mice

Neural Plast. 2016:2016:6846721. doi: 10.1155/2016/6846721. Epub 2016 Mar 10.

Abstract

APOE ε4 (apoE4) polymorphism is the main genetic determinant of sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). A dietary approach (Fortasyn) including docosahexaenoic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, uridine, choline, phospholipids, folic acid, vitamins B12, B6, C, and E, and selenium has been proposed for dietary management of AD. We hypothesize that the diet could inhibit AD-like pathologies in apoE4 mice, specifically cerebrovascular and connectivity impairment. Moreover, we evaluated the diet effect on cerebral blood flow (CBF), functional connectivity (FC), gray/white matter integrity, and postsynaptic density in aging apoE4 mice. At 10-12 months, apoE4 mice did not display prominent pathological differences compared to wild-type (WT) mice. However, 16-18-month-old apoE4 mice revealed reduced CBF and accelerated synaptic loss. The diet increased cortical CBF and amount of synapses and improved white matter integrity and FC in both aging apoE4 and WT mice. We demonstrated that protective mechanisms on vascular and synapse health are enhanced by Fortasyn, independent of apoE genotype. We further showed the efficacy of a multimodal translational approach, including advanced MR neuroimaging, to study dietary intervention on brain structure and function in aging.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aging*
  • Alzheimer Disease / diet therapy*
  • Alzheimer Disease / genetics
  • Alzheimer Disease / physiopathology*
  • Animals
  • Apolipoprotein E4 / genetics
  • Apolipoproteins E / genetics
  • Brain / blood supply*
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Brain / physiopathology*
  • Brain Mapping
  • Diet
  • Disks Large Homolog 4 Protein
  • Fatty Acids / metabolism
  • Female
  • Guanylate Kinases / metabolism
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Membrane Proteins / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Neural Pathways / blood supply
  • Neural Pathways / metabolism
  • Neural Pathways / physiopathology
  • Sterols / blood

Substances

  • Apolipoprotein E4
  • Apolipoproteins E
  • Disks Large Homolog 4 Protein
  • Dlg4 protein, mouse
  • Fatty Acids
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Sterols
  • Guanylate Kinases