BACKGROUND

Chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer can induce cognitive impairments often involving oxidative stress. The brain, as a whole, is susceptible to oxidative stress due to its high-energy requirements, limited anaerobic respiration capacities, and limited antioxidant defenses. The goal of the current study was to determine if the manganese porphyrin superoxide dismutase mimetic MnTnBuOE-2-PyP (MnBuOE) could ameliorate the effects of doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and paclitaxel (AC-T) on mature dendrite morphology and cognitive function.

METHODS

Four-month-old female C57BL/6 mice received intraperitoneal injections of chemotherapy followed by subcutaneous injections of MnBuOE. Four weeks following chemotherapy treatment, mice were tested for hippocampus-dependent cognitive performance in the Morris water maze. After testing, brains were collected for Golgi staining and molecular analyses.

RESULTS

MnBuOE treatment preserved spatial memory during the Morris water-maze. MnBuOE/AC-T showed spatial memory retention during all probe trials. AC-T treatment significantly impaired spatial memory retention in the first and third probe trial (no platform). AC-T treatment decreased dendritic length in the Cornu Ammonis 1 (CA1) and dentate gyrus (DG) areas of the hippocampus while AC-T/MnBuOE maintained dendritic length. Comparative proteomic analysis revealed affected protein networks associated with cell morphology and behavior functions in both the AC-T and AC-T/MnBuOE treatment groups.