Abstract
Post-operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is associated with elderly patients undergoing surgery. However, pharmacological treatments for POCD are limited. In this study, we found that curcumin, an active compound derived from Curcuma longa, ameliorated the cognitive dysfunction following abdominal surgery in aged mice. Further, curcumin prevented surgery-induced anti-oxidant enzyme activity. Curcumin also increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)-positive area and expression of pAkt in the brain, suggesting that curcumin activated BDNF signaling in aged mice. Furthermore, curcumin neutralized cholinergic dysfunction involving choline acetyltransferase expression induced by surgery. These results strongly suggested that curcumin prevented cognitive impairments via multiple targets, possibly by increasing the activity of anti-oxidant enzymes, activation of BDNF signaling, and neutralization of cholinergic dysfunction, concurrently. Based on these novel findings, curcumin might be a potential agent in POCD prophylaxis and treatment.
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Abbreviations
- BDNF:
-
brain-derived neurotrophic factor
- CAT:
-
catalase
- ChAT:
-
choline acetyltransferase
- GPx:
-
glutathione peroxidase
- IHC:
-
Immunohistochemical
- MWM:
-
Morris water maze
- NIH:
-
National Institutes of Health
- NOR:
-
Novel object recognition
- Nrf2:
-
Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2
- OD:
-
optical density
- POCD:
-
post-operative cognitive
- SOD:
-
superoxide dismutase.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Ningbo Natural Science Foundation (2015A610219, 2013A610221), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1503223, 81673407), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LY15H310007), the Applied Research Project on Nonprofit Technology of Zhejiang Province (2016C37110), Medicine and Drugs Research of Zhejiang Province (2014KYB232), the Ningbo International Science and Technology Cooperation Project (2014D10019), Ningbo municipal innovation team of life science and health (2015C110026), the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, the State Education Ministry, and the K. C. Wong Magna Fund in Ningbo University.
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**ang Wu and Huixin Chen contribute equally as co-first authors.
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Wu, X., Chen, H., Huang, C. et al. Curcumin attenuates surgery-induced cognitive dysfunction in aged mice. Metab Brain Dis 32, 789–798 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-017-9970-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-017-9970-y