insulin-detemir and Cognition-Disorders

Peripheral insulin resistance is a key component of metabolic syndrome associated with obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes. While the impact of insulin resistance is well recognized in the periphery, it is also becoming apparent in the brain. Recent studies suggest that insulin resistance may be a factor in brain aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) whereby intranasal insulin therapy, which delivers insulin to the brain, improves cognition and memory in AD patients. Here, we tested a clinically relevant delivery method to determine the impact of two forms of insulin, short-acting insulin lispro (Humalog) or long-acting insulin detemir (Levemir), on cognitive functions in aged F344 rats. We also explored insulin effects on the Ca(2+)-dependent hippocampal afterhyperpolarization (AHP), a well-characterized neurophysiological marker of aging which is increased in the aged, memory impaired animal. Low-dose intranasal insulin improved memory recall in aged animals such that their performance was similar to that seen in younger animals. Further, because ex vivo insulin also reduced the AHP, our results suggest that the AHP may be a novel cellular target of insulin in the brain, and improved cognitive performance following intranasal insulin therapy may be the result of insulin actions on the AHP.

Topics: Administration, Intranasal; Aging; Animals; Brain; Cellular Senescence; Cognition; Cognition Disorders; Electrophysiological Phenomena; Hypoglycemic Agents; Insulin Detemir; Insulin Lispro; Insulin Resistance; Memory; Rats; Treatment Outcome

Topics: Administration, Intranasal; Adult; Cognition Disorders; Humans; Insulin Detemir; Insulin, Long-Acting

We previously demonstrated that intracerebroventricular streptozotocin (STZ-icv) injection induced cognitive dysfunction and led to decreased expression levels of phospho-cyclic AMP responsive element binding protein (pCREB), Akt, and insulin degrading enzyme (IDE) and increased amyloid beta (Ab) deposition in the hippocampus. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether treatment with an insulin analogue could prevent STZ-induced cognitive decline by reducing or eliminating these changes in the hippocampus. To test this hypothesis, we administrated a long-acting insulin analogue, detemir, into the third ventricle (3V) of STZ-treated rats and assessed cognitive outcomes using the Morris water maze (MWM), immunohistochemistry, and Golgi-Cox staining. Insulin injection successfully rescued STZ-induced cognitive decline, as evidenced by a marked elevation in learning ability. Detemir treatment also resulted in changes in hippocampal levels of IDE, insulin receptor (IR), Akt, somatostatin (SST), and Ab. The STZ-induced decrease of granule cell layer neurons was also recovered by detemir administration. These results provide evidence that 'brain diabetes' and Alzheimer-type dementia involve similar mechanisms and show that insulin may be a promising therapeutic agent to attenuate cognitive decline.

Topics: Amyloid beta-Peptides; Animals; Cognition Disorders; Disease Models, Animal; Hippocampus; Injections, Intraventricular; Insulin Detemir; Insulin, Long-Acting; Insulysin; Male; Maze Learning; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Receptor, Insulin; Somatostatin; Streptozocin