Karimani Farnaz, Eivani Mehdi, Asgari Taei Afsaneh, Abolghasemi Dehaqani Mohammad-Reza, Dargahi Leila
Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuroscience and Cognition, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Brain and Cognitive Science Lab, Center for Convergent Technologies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Neurochem Res. 2025 Jul 22;50(4):243. doi: 10.1007/s11064-025-04497-6.
Aging is commonly associated with cognitive decline, particularly in memory, and is linked to neuronal hyperexcitability and disrupted sleep-related oscillations in key brain regions such as the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Melatonin has been proposed as a potential therapeutic agent to counteract age-related cognitive impairments. In this study, 24-month-old male Wistar rats were treated with melatonin (10 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) for 30 days. Local field potentials were recorded from the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex to assess neuronal activity. Memory performance was evaluated using the novel object recognition test, and qPCR measured expression levels of inflammatory and amyloidogenesis markers. Melatonin treatment significantly reduced neuronal hyperexcitability, enhanced delta and theta oscillations, and increased sleep spindle amplitude, which were associated with improved memory performance. Additionally, melatonin attenuated the expression of pro-inflammatory markers without affecting the expression of amyloidogenesis-related genes. These findings suggest that melatonin may enhance cognitive function in aging by modulating neuronal excitability, sleep oscillations, and neuroinflammatory processes.
衰老通常与认知能力下降有关，尤其是在记忆方面，并且与神经元过度兴奋以及海马体和前额叶皮质等关键脑区中与睡眠相关的振荡紊乱有关。褪黑素已被提议作为一种潜在的治疗药物来对抗与年龄相关的认知障碍。在本研究中，对24月龄雄性Wistar大鼠腹腔注射褪黑素（10毫克/千克），持续30天。记录海马体和前额叶皮质的局部场电位以评估神经元活动。使用新物体识别测试评估记忆表现，并通过qPCR测量炎症和淀粉样蛋白生成标志物的表达水平。褪黑素治疗显著降低了神经元的过度兴奋性，增强了δ波和θ波振荡，并增加了睡眠纺锤波振幅，这些都与记忆表现的改善有关。此外，褪黑素减弱了促炎标志物的表达，而不影响淀粉样蛋白生成相关基因的表达。这些发现表明，褪黑素可能通过调节神经元兴奋性、睡眠振荡和神经炎症过程来增强衰老过程中的认知功能。
