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Psotta L, Rockahr C, Gruss M, Kirches E, Braun K, Lessmann V, Bock J, Endres T. Impact of an additional chronic BDNF reduction on learning performance in an Alzheimer mouse model. Front Behav Neurosci 2015; 9:58. [PMID: 25852506 PMCID: PMC4367180 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2014] [Accepted: 02/18/2015] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
There is increasing evidence that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a crucial role in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology. A number of studies demonstrated that AD patients exhibit reduced BDNF levels in the brain and the blood serum, and in addition, several animal-based studies indicated a potential protective effect of BDNF against Aβ-induced neurotoxicity. In order to further investigate the role of BDNF in the etiology of AD, we created a novel mouse model by crossing a well-established AD mouse model (APP/PS1) with a mouse exhibiting a chronic BDNF deficiency (BDNF+/−). This new triple transgenic mouse model enabled us to further analyze the role of BDNF in AD in vivo. We reasoned that in case BDNF has a protective effect against AD pathology, an AD-like phenotype in our new mouse model should occur earlier and/or in more severity than in the APP/PS1-mice. Indeed, the behavioral analysis revealed that the APP/PS1-BDNF+/−-mice show an earlier onset of learning impairments in a two-way active avoidance task in comparison to APP/PS1- and BDNF+/−-mice. However in the Morris water maze (MWM) test, we could not observe an overall aggrevated impairment in spatial learning and also short-term memory in an object recognition task remained intact in all tested mouse lines. In addition to the behavioral experiments, we analyzed the amyloid plaque pathology in the APP/PS1 and APP/PS1-BDNF+/−-mice and observed a comparable plaque density in the two genotypes. Moreover, our results revealed a higher plaque density in prefrontal cortical compared to hippocampal brain regions. Our data reveal that higher cognitive tasks requiring the recruitment of cortical networks appear to be more severely affected in our new mouse model than learning tasks requiring mainly sub-cortical networks. Furthermore, our observations of an accelerated impairment in active avoidance learning in APP/PS1-BDNF+/−-mice further supports the hypothesis that BDNF deficiency amplifies AD-related cognitive dysfunctions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Psotta
- Institute of Physiology, Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Carolin Rockahr
- Department of Zoology/Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Michael Gruss
- Department of Zoology/Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Elmar Kirches
- Institute of Neuropathology, Faculty of Medicine, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Katharina Braun
- Department of Zoology/Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany ; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences (CBBS), Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Volkmar Lessmann
- Institute of Physiology, Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany ; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences (CBBS), Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Jörg Bock
- Department of Zoology/Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany ; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences (CBBS), Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Thomas Endres
- Institute of Physiology, Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany ; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences (CBBS), Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany
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Petzold A, Psotta L, Brigadski T, Endres T, Lessmann V. Chronic BDNF deficiency leads to an age-dependent impairment in spatial learning. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2015; 120:52-60. [PMID: 25724412 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2015.02.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2014] [Revised: 02/07/2015] [Accepted: 02/17/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a crucial mediator of neural plasticity and, consequently, of memory formation. In hippocampus-dependent learning tasks BDNF also seems to play an essential role. However, there are conflicting results concerning the spatial learning ability of aging BDNF(+/-) mice in the Morris water maze paradigm. To evaluate the effect of chronic BDNF deficiency in the hippocampus on spatial learning throughout life, we conducted a comprehensive study to test differently aged BDNF(+/-) mice and their wild type littermates in the Morris water maze and to subsequently quantify their hippocampal BDNF protein levels as well as expression levels of TrkB receptors. We observed an age-dependent learning deficit in BDNF(+/-) animals, starting at seven months of age, despite stable hippocampal BDNF protein expression and continual decline of TrkB receptor expression throughout aging. Furthermore, we detected a positive correlation between hippocampal BDNF protein levels and learning performance during the probe trial in animals that showed a good learning performance during the long-term memory test.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Petzold
- Institute for Physiology, Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Laura Psotta
- Institute for Physiology, Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Tanja Brigadski
- Institute for Physiology, Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Thomas Endres
- Institute for Physiology, Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
| | - Volkmar Lessmann
- Institute for Physiology, Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University, Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, Germany
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Psotta L, Lessmann V, Endres T. Impaired fear extinction learning in adult heterozygous BDNF knock-out mice. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2013; 103:34-8. [PMID: 23578839 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2013.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2012] [Revised: 03/25/2013] [Accepted: 03/25/2013] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a crucial regulator of neuroplasticity, which underlies learning and memory processes in different brain areas. To investigate the role of BDNF in the extinction of amygdala-dependent cued fear memories, we analyzed fear extinction learning in heterozygous BDNF knock-out mice, which possess a reduction of endogenous BDNF protein levels to ~50% of wild-type animals. Since BDNF expression has been shown to decline with aging of animals, we tested the performance in extinction learning of these mice at 2 months (young adults) and 7 months (older adults) of age. The present study shows that older adult heterozygous BDNF knock-out mice, which have a chronic 50% lack of BDNF, also possess a deficit in the acquisition of extinction memory, while extinction learning remains unaffected in young adult heterozygous BDNF knock-out mice. This deficit in extinction learning is accompanied by a reduction of BDNF protein in the hippocampus, amygdala and the prefrontal cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Psotta
- Institute of Physiology, Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
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K�nig KH, Psotta L. Die Selektivit�t Kristalliner Cer(IV)-Phosphatsulfathydrate gegen�ber Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+, Cs+ und NH4+ in absolutem Methanol und absolutem Dimethylsulfoxid. Z Anorg Allg Chem 1978. [DOI: 10.1002/zaac.19784440127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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K�nig KH, Psotta L. Die Selektivit�t kristalliner Cer(IV)-phosphatsulfathydrate gegen�ber Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+, Cs+ und NH+4 im w��rigen Medium. Z Anorg Allg Chem 1978. [DOI: 10.1002/zaac.19784430123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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Moser F, Psotta L, Rothe W, Fasold H, Range KJ, Koschel D, Bergmann H, Schmidt H. Buchbesprechungen. Colloid Polym Sci 1976. [DOI: 10.1007/bf01526753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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