Modi Khushbu K, Rangasamy Suresh B, Dasarathi Sridevi, Roy Avik, Pahan Kalipada
Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, 1735 West Harrison St, Suite, Chicago, IL, 310, USA.
Division of Research and Development, Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 820 South Damen Avenue, Chicago, IL, USA.
J Neuroimmune Pharmacol. 2016 Dec;11(4):693-707. doi: 10.1007/s11481-016-9693-6. Epub 2016 Jun 24.
This study underlines the importance of cinnamon, a commonly used natural spice and flavoring material, and its metabolite sodium benzoate (NaB) in converting poor learning mice to good learning ones. NaB, but not sodium formate, was found to upregulate plasticity-related molecules, stimulate NMDA- and AMPA-sensitive calcium influx and increase of spine density in cultured hippocampal neurons. NaB induced the activation of CREB in hippocampal neurons via protein kinase A (PKA), which was responsible for the upregulation of plasticity-related molecules. Finally, spatial memory consolidation-induced activation of CREB and expression of different plasticity-related molecules were less in the hippocampus of poor learning mice as compared to good learning ones. However, oral treatment of cinnamon and NaB increased spatial memory consolidation-induced activation of CREB and expression of plasticity-related molecules in the hippocampus of poor-learning mice and converted poor learners into good learners. These results describe a novel property of cinnamon in switching poor learners to good learners via stimulating hippocampal plasticity.
本研究强调了肉桂（一种常用的天然香料和调味材料）及其代谢产物苯甲酸钠（NaB）在将学习能力差的小鼠转变为学习能力良好的小鼠方面的重要性。研究发现，是NaB而非甲酸钠上调了与可塑性相关的分子，刺激了NMDA和AMPA敏感的钙内流，并增加了培养的海马神经元中的棘突密度。NaB通过蛋白激酶A（PKA）诱导海马神经元中CREB的激活，而PKA负责上调与可塑性相关的分子。最后，与学习能力良好的小鼠相比，学习能力差的小鼠海马中空间记忆巩固诱导的CREB激活和不同可塑性相关分子的表达较少。然而，口服肉桂和NaB可增加学习能力差的小鼠海马中空间记忆巩固诱导的CREB激活和可塑性相关分子的表达，并将学习能力差的小鼠转变为学习能力良好的小鼠。这些结果描述了肉桂通过刺激海马可塑性将学习能力差的小鼠转变为学习能力良好的小鼠的新特性。
