Andrographolide promotes hippocampal neurogenesis and spatial memory in the APPswe/PS1ΔE9 mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 22904
• Main Authors: Arredondo, Sebastian B., Reyes, Daniel T., Herrera-Soto, Andrea, Mardones, Muriel D., Inestrosa, Nibaldo C., Varela-Nallar, Lorena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 25.11.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/378/1595/3922; 631/378/1689/1283; 631/378/368/2431; Alzheimer Disease - drug therapy; Alzheimer Disease - genetics; Alzheimer Disease - pathology; Alzheimer Disease - psychology; Alzheimer's disease; Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor - genetics; Animals; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Cell differentiation; Cell proliferation; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Cognitive ability; Dentate gyrus; Dentate Gyrus - drug effects; Dentate Gyrus - pathology; Disease Models, Animal; Diterpenes - pharmacology; Female; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Hippocampus; Humanities and Social Sciences; Memory; Mental task performance; Mice, Transgenic; multidisciplinary; Neural stem cells; Neural Stem Cells - drug effects; Neural Stem Cells - pathology; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neurogenesis; Neurogenesis - drug effects; Neurons - drug effects; Neurons - pathology; Nootropic Agents - pharmacology; Presenilin 1; Presenilin-1 - genetics; Progenitor cells; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Spatial memory; Spatial Memory - drug effects
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-01977-x

In Alzheimer´s disease (AD) there is a reduction in hippocampal neurogenesis that has been associated to cognitive deficits. Previously we showed that Andrographolide (ANDRO), the main bioactive component of Andrographis paniculate , induces proliferation in the hippocampus of the APPswe/PSEN1ΔE9 (APP/PS1) mouse model of AD as assessed by staining with the mitotic marker Ki67. Here, we further characterized the effect of ANDRO on hippocampal neurogenesis in APP/PS1 mice and evaluated the contribution of this process to the cognitive effect of ANDRO. Treatment of 8-month-old APP/PS1 mice with ANDRO for 4 weeks increased proliferation in the dentate gyrus as evaluated by BrdU incorporation. Although ANDRO had no effect on neuronal differentiation of newborn cells, it strongly increased neural progenitors, neuroblasts and newborn immature neurons, cell populations that were decreased in APP/PS1 mice compared to age-matched wild-type mice. ANDRO had no effect on migration or in total dendritic length, arborization and orientation of immature neurons, suggesting no effects on early morphological development of newborn neurons. Finally, ANDRO treatment improved the performance of APP/PS1 mice in the object location memory task. This effect was not completely prevented by co-treatment with the anti-mitotic drug TMZ, suggesting that other effects of ANDRO in addition to the increase in neurogenesis might underlie the observed cognitive improvement. Altogether, our data indicate that in APP/PS1 mice ANDRO stimulates neurogenesis in the hippocampus by inducing proliferation of neural precursor cells and improves spatial memory performance.