School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Discipline of Psychology, College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2022 Sep;1515(1):249-265. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14850. Epub 2022 Jun 25.
Dementia is a major burden on global health for which there are no effective treatments. The use of noninvasive visual stimulation to ameliorate cognitive deficits is a novel concept that may be applicable for treating dementia. In this study, we investigated the effects of transcorneal electrical stimulation (TES) on memory enhancement using two mouse models, in aged mice and in the 5XFAD model of Alzheimer's disease. After 3 weeks of TES treatment, mice were subjected to Y-maze and Morris water maze tests to assess hippocampal-dependent learning and memory. Immunostaining of the hippocampus of 5XFAD mice was also performed to examine the effects of TES on amyloid plaque pathology. The results showed that TES improved the performance of both aged and 5XFAD mice in memory tests. TES also reduced hippocampal plaque deposition in male, but not female, 5XFAD mice. Moreover, TES significantly reversed the downregulated level of postsynaptic protein 95 in the hippocampus of male 5XFAD mice, suggesting the effects of TES involve a postsynaptic mechanism. Overall, these findings support further investigation of TES as a potential treatment for cognitive dysfunction and mechanistic studies of TES effects in other dementia models.
痴呆是全球健康的一个主要负担，目前尚无有效的治疗方法。使用非侵入性视觉刺激来改善认知缺陷是一个新的概念，可能适用于治疗痴呆。在这项研究中，我们使用两种小鼠模型，即老年小鼠和阿尔茨海默病的 5XFAD 模型，研究了经角膜电刺激（TES）对记忆增强的影响。经过 3 周的 TES 治疗后，小鼠接受 Y 迷宫和 Morris 水迷宫测试，以评估海马依赖性学习和记忆。还对 5XFAD 小鼠的海马进行免疫染色，以检查 TES 对淀粉样斑块病理的影响。结果表明，TES 改善了老年和 5XFAD 小鼠在记忆测试中的表现。TES 还减少了雄性而非雌性 5XFAD 小鼠海马中的斑块沉积。此外，TES 显著逆转了雄性 5XFAD 小鼠海马中突触后蛋白 95 的下调水平，表明 TES 的作用涉及突触后机制。总的来说，这些发现支持进一步研究 TES 作为治疗认知功能障碍的潜在方法，并对 TES 在其他痴呆模型中的作用进行机制研究。
