Simultaneous changes of spatial memory and spine density after intrahippocampal administration of fibrillar Aβ1-42 to the rat brain.
Biomed Res Int. 2014 June; 2014:345305.
Abstract:
Several animal models of Alzheimer’s disease have been used in laboratory experiments. Intrahippocampal injection of fibrillar amyloid-beta (fAβ) peptide represents one of the most frequently used models, mimicking Aβ deposits in the brain. In our experiment synthetic fAβ1-42 peptide was administered into rat hippocampus. The effect of the Aβ peptide on spatial memory and dendritic spine density was studied. The fAβ1-42-treated rats showed decreased spatial learning ability measured in Morris water maze. Simultaneously, fAβ1-42 caused a significant reduction of the dendritic spine density in the rat hippocampus CA1 region. The decrease of learning ability and the loss of spine density were in correlation. Our results prove that both methods are suitable for studying Aβ-triggered neurodegeneration processes.