sincalide and Memory-Disorders

Acute and chronic exposure to opiate drugs impaired various types of memory processes. To date, there is no preventive treatment for opiate-induced memory impairment and the related mechanism is still unclear. CCK-8 is the most potent endogenous anti-opioid peptide and has been shown to exert memory-enhancing effect, but the effect of CCK-8 on morphine-induced memory impairment has not been reported. By using Morris water maze, we found that escape latency to the hidden platform in navigation test was not influenced, but performance in the probe test was seriously poor in morphine dependency mice. Amnesia induced by chronic morphine treatment was significantly alleviated by pre-treatment with CCK-8 (0.01, 0.1 and 1 μg, i.c.v.), and CCK-8 (0.1 and 1 μg, i.c.v.) treatment alone could improve performance in either navigation or probe test. Furthermore, Golgi-Cox staining analysis revealed that pre-treatment with CCK-8 (1 μg, i.c.v.) reversed spine density decreased in CA1 region of hippocampus in morphine dependency mice, and CCK-8 (1 μg, i.c.v.) alone obviously increased spine density in CA1. Our findings conclude spine density change in CA1 region of hippocampus may be the structural plasticity mechanism which is responsible for enhancing effect of CCK-8 on spatial reference memory. Therefore, CCK-8 could effectively improve memory impairment in morphine dependency mice.

Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; CA1 Region, Hippocampal; Cholecystokinin; Dendritic Spines; Male; Maze Learning; Memory; Memory Disorders; Mice; Morphine; Peptide Fragments; Spatial Behavior

Glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) plays a crucial role in memory deficits and tau hyperphosphorylation as seen in Alzheimer's disease, the most common dementia in the aged population. We reported that ventricular co-injection of wortmannin and GF-109203X (WT/GFX) can induce tau hyperphosophorylation and memory impairment of rats through activation of GSK-3 [Liu S. J., Zhang A. H., Li H. L., Wang Q., Deng H. M., Netzer W. J., Xu H. X. and Wang J. Z. (2003) J. Neurochem. 87, 1333]. In the present study, we found that feeding the rats with Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR, 50 mg/day·rat, per os) for 2 weeks rescued the WT/GFX-induced spatial memory retention impairment of the rats by antagonizing GSK-3β activation independent of Akt, PKCζ and Erk1/2. We also found that ALCAR arrested microtubule-associated protein tau hyperphosphorylation at multiple Alzheimer's disease sites in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, ALCAR enhanced the expression of several memory-associated proteins including c-Fos, synapsin I in rat hippocampus. These results suggest that ALCAR could ameliorate WT/GFX-induced spatial memory deficits through inhibition tau hyperphosphorylation and modulation of memory-associated proteins.

Topics: Acetylcarnitine; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Cells, Cultured; Enzyme Inhibitors; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta; Hippocampus; Humans; Male; Maze Learning; Memory Disorders; Mice; Neurons; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors; Phosphorylation; Protein Kinase C; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Signal Transduction; Sincalide; tau Proteins; Vitamin B Complex