Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, 72 E. Concord Street, L-1004, Boston, MA, 02118, USA.
Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, 725 Albany Street, Boston, MA, 02118, USA.
Geroscience. 2017 Dec;39(5-6):571-584. doi: 10.1007/s11357-017-9998-2. Epub 2017 Oct 18.
Studies of both humans and non-human primates have demonstrated that aging is typically characterized by a decline in cognition that can occur as early as the fifth decade of life. Age-related changes in working memory are particularly evident and mediated, in part, by the prefrontal cortex, an area known to evidence age-related changes in myelin that is attributed to inflammation. In recent years, several nutraceuticals, including curcumin, by virtue of their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, have received considerable attention as potential treatments for age-related cognitive decline and inflammation. Accordingly, we assessed for the first time in a non-human primate model of normal aging the efficacy of dietary intervention using the natural phenol curcumin to ameliorate the effects of aging on spatial working and recognition memory. Results revealed that monkeys receiving daily administration of curcumin over 14-18 months demonstrated a greater improvement in performance on repeated administration of a task of spatial working memory compared to monkeys that received a control substance.
研究表明，人类和非人类灵长类动物通常会随着年龄的增长而出现认知能力下降的情况，这种情况最早可能发生在 50 岁左右。工作记忆的与年龄相关的变化尤为明显，部分原因是前额叶皮层，这个区域已知会出现与年龄相关的髓鞘变化，这归因于炎症。近年来，几种营养保健品，包括姜黄素，由于其抗炎和抗氧化作用，作为治疗与年龄相关的认知能力下降和炎症的潜在方法引起了广泛关注。因此，我们首次在正常衰老的非人类灵长类动物模型中评估了使用天然酚类姜黄素进行饮食干预的疗效，以改善衰老对空间工作和识别记忆的影响。结果表明，接受姜黄素每日给药 14-18 个月的猴子在反复进行空间工作记忆任务时的表现有了更大的改善，而接受对照物质的猴子则没有。
