Nanobiology and Nanomedicine Research Centre, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Shiraz Neuroscience Research Centre, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; Students Research Committee, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Brain Res Bull. 2021 May;170:137-145. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2021.02.007. Epub 2021 Feb 5.
Caffeine, one of the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world, has been shown to affect mood, memory, alertness, and cognitive performance. This study aimed to assess the effect of sub-chronic oral gavage of caffeine on memory and the phosphorylation levels of hippocampal Akt (protein kinase B), GSK-3β (Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3beta) and ERK (extracellular signal-regulated kinase) in mice. Adult male NMRI mice were administered with caffeine at the doses of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.5 mg/kg/oral gavage for 10 days before behavioral assessments. Upon completion of the behavioral tasks, the hippocampi were isolated for western blot analysis to detect the phosphorylated and total levels of Akt, GSK-3β and ERK proteins. The results showed that sub-chronic caffeine ingestion at the dose of 0.5 mg/kg improves memory in mice both in passive avoidance and novel object recognition tasks. Furthermore, this memory enhancing dose of caffeine elevated the ratios of phosphorylated to total contents of hippocampal Akt, GSK-3β and ERK. This study suggests that sub-chronic low dose of caffeine improves memory and increases the phosphorylation of hippocampal Akt, GSK-3β and ERK proteins.
咖啡因是世界上使用最广泛的精神活性物质之一，已被证明会影响情绪、记忆、警觉性和认知表现。本研究旨在评估亚慢性口服给予咖啡因对小鼠记忆以及海马 Akt（蛋白激酶 B）、GSK-3β（糖原合成酶激酶 3β）和 ERK（细胞外信号调节激酶）磷酸化水平的影响。成年雄性 NMRI 小鼠接受 0.25、0.5、0.75 和 1.5mg/kg/口服灌胃的咖啡因剂量，连续 10 天，然后进行行为评估。行为任务完成后，分离海马进行 Western blot 分析，以检测 Akt、GSK-3β 和 ERK 蛋白的磷酸化和总水平。结果表明，0.5mg/kg 的亚慢性咖啡因摄入可改善小鼠在被动回避和新物体识别任务中的记忆。此外，这种具有记忆增强作用的咖啡因剂量可提高海马 Akt、GSK-3β 和 ERK 的磷酸化与总含量的比值。本研究表明，亚慢性低剂量咖啡因可改善记忆，并增加海马 Akt、GSK-3β 和 ERK 蛋白的磷酸化。
