Development of the animal model of Alzheimer disease and chronic stimulation of frontal basal nucleus to improve the cognitive function

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23592114
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cerebral neurosurgery
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: SHIN Masahiro 東京大学, 医学部附属病院, 講師 (70302726)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 脳・神経 / 脳神経疾患 / 神経科学 / 痴呆 / 臨床

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Amyloid β oligomer was stereotactically injected into cerebral cortex and basal nucleus of Mynert (BNM) in the elderly rats. Subjects were divided into 3 groups, the Control group (surgery-,injection-), the Sham group (surgery+,injection-), and Aβ group (surgery+,injection-), and their cognitive functions were evaluated before and after surgery with Morris’s Water Maze. The brains in each group were extracted and degeneration of the cholinergic neurons were evaluated with immunostaining method.
As results, in the rats in the injection + groups, cognitive function was significantly more deteriorated than those in the injection -group. However, histological investigation of the cholinergic neurons in BNM revealed that the neuronal degeneration of the cholinergic neurons tended to be more severe in BNM of the rats in the injection + group than observed in the nucleus of the rats in the injection -group, which was not statistically significant.

Free Research Field

脳神経外科学