Lipid characterization of cortical brain in a STZ-induced rat model of sporadic Alzheimer´s disease

CRESPO R; REGGIANI PC; RODENAK KLADNIEW B; ZAPPA VILLAR MF

Córdoba

Congreso; LII Reunión Anual Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular I; 2016

Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

Sporadic Alzheimer?s disease (sAD) is the most common form of dementia among older people. This study aimed to examine the lipidclasses and fatty acid composition from brain cortex and the cognitive function of a rat model of sAD generated by theintracerebroventricular (icv) injection of a sub-diabetogenic dose of streptozotocin (STZ) to explore possible lipid profile alterationsthat could correlate with this neuropathology and validate the model for future gene therapy assays. Three-month-old male rats wereicvSTZ injected with 1 and 3 mg/Kg or vehicle. On experimental day (ED) 14, cognitive performance was evaluated by Barnes mazeand Novel Object Recognition test. Rats were sacrificed on ED 24. Lipid analyses were performed by thin-layer and capillary gaschromatography. The high STZ dose induced significant cognitive deficits (P≤0.01) and in the brain cortex it displayed low levels ofn-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (mainly 22:6n-3) and reduced unsaturation and peroxidability indexes. Free cholesterolcontent was not modified but levels of triglycerides and cholesterol esters showed a slight increase. The low STZ dose did not inducesignificant changes. These results demonstrated that icvSTZ administration of 3 mg/Kg produced alterations in cognitive and lipidprofiles that resembled sAD, thus we propose this animal model to study sAD potential therapies.