Recombinant growth differentiation factor 11 influences short-term memory and enhances Sox2 expression in middle-aged mice

• Published in: Behavioural brain research Vol. 341; pp. 45 - 49
• Main Authors: Zhang, Min, Jadavji, Nafisa M., Yoo, Hyung-Suk, Smith, Patrice D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 02.04.2018
• Subjects: Aging - drug effects; Aging - metabolism; Aging - pathology; Aging - psychology; Animals; Bone Morphogenetic Proteins - pharmacology; Cognitive decline; Dentate Gyrus - cytology; Dentate Gyrus - drug effects; Dentate Gyrus - metabolism; GDF-11; Gene Expression - drug effects; Growth Differentiation Factors - pharmacology; Humans; Male; Maze Learning - drug effects; Maze Learning - physiology; Memory, Short-Term - drug effects; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Nootropic Agents - pharmacology; Pattern Recognition, Visual - drug effects; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Random Allocation; Recombinant Proteins - pharmacology; Short term memory; Sox2; SOXB1 Transcription Factors - metabolism; Spatial Memory - drug effects; Spatial Memory - physiology; Cognitive decline; Sox2; GDF-11; Short term memory
• ISSN: 0166-4328; 1872-7549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.12.019

•Single dose of rGDF-11 improved visual short-term memory in middle-aged mice.•No changes in spatial short-term memory were observed in middle-aged mice.•rGDF-11 treatment did not affect short-term memory in young mice.•Young mice treated with rGDF-11 had increased levels of phospho-Smad2/3 in brain. Previous evidence suggests that a significant decline in cognitive ability begins during middle-age and continues to deteriorate with increase in age. Recent work has demonstrated the potential rejuvenation impact of growth differentiation factor-11 (GDF-11) in aged mice. We carried out experiments to evaluate the impact of a single dose of recombinant (rGDF-11) on short-term visual and spatial memory in middle-aged male mice. On the novel object recognition task, we observed middle-aged mice treated rGDF-11 showed improved performance on the novel object recognition task. However, middle-aged mice did not show increased expression of phosphorylated-Smad2/3, a downstream effector of GDF-11. We noted however that the expression of the transcription factor, Sox2 was increased within the dentate gyrus. Our data suggest that a single injection of rGDF-11 contributes to improvements in cognitive function of middle-aged animals, which may be critical in the preservation of short-term memory capacity in old age.