Polimanti Renato, Simonelli Ilaria, Zappasodi Filippo, Ventriglia Mariacarla, Pellicciari Maria Concetta, Benussi Luisa, Squitti Rosanna, Rossini Paolo Maria, Tecchio Franca
Department of Biology, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy.
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, West Haven, CT, USA.
Neurol Sci. 2016 Feb;37(2):211-8. doi: 10.1007/s10072-015-2388-6. Epub 2015 Oct 7.
To evaluate whether the age-dependence of brain plasticity correlates with the levels of proteins involved in hormone and brain functions we executed a paired associative stimulation (PAS) protocol and blood tests. We measured the PAS-induced plasticity in the primary motor cortex. Blood levels of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), estradiol, the insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, the insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP)-3, progesterone, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), testosterone, and the transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) were determined in 15 healthy men and 20 healthy women. We observed an age-related reduction of PAS-induced plasticity in females that it is not present in males. In females, PAS-induced plasticity displayed a correlation with testosterone (p = 0.006) that became a trend after the adjustment for the age effect (p = 0.078). In males, IGF-1 showed a nominally significant correlation with the PAS-induced plasticity (p = 0.043). In conclusion, we observed that hormone blood levels (testosterone in females and IGF-1 in males) may be involved in the age-dependence of brain plasticity.
为了评估大脑可塑性的年龄依赖性是否与参与激素和大脑功能的蛋白质水平相关，我们执行了配对联想刺激（PAS）方案和血液检测。我们测量了初级运动皮层中PAS诱导的可塑性。测定了15名健康男性和20名健康女性血液中脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）、雌二醇、胰岛素样生长因子（IGF）-1、胰岛素样生长因子结合蛋白（IGFBP）-3、孕酮、性激素结合球蛋白（SHBG）、睾酮和转化生长因子β1（TGF-β1）的水平。我们观察到女性中PAS诱导的可塑性随年龄降低，而男性中不存在这种情况。在女性中，PAS诱导的可塑性与睾酮呈相关性（p = 0.006），在调整年龄效应后这种相关性变为一种趋势（p = 0.078）。在男性中，IGF-1与PAS诱导的可塑性呈名义上的显著相关性（p = 0.043）。总之，我们观察到激素血液水平（女性中的睾酮和男性中的IGF-1）可能与大脑可塑性的年龄依赖性有关。
