Reproductive Experience Protects Against Cognitive Decline in a Mouse Model of Dementia
Abstract
Dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, are devastating conditions lacking safe and effective treatments. Despite the striking sex/gender difference in the prevalence of dementia, few studies have investigated sex-specific factors that may influence the greater risk and faster progression of disease in females. These factors include but are not limited to prior pregnancy and motherhood. Women with children have slower rates of cognitive decline and lower risk for developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia than women with no children. However, other studies have reported mixed results, suggesting that the influence of reproductive/maternal experience may depend on an individual’s number of children and/or their geographical location. Therefore, controlled studies in animal models are needed to determine causality and mechanisms driving this relationship. One common pathological contributor to dementia is cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), the accumulation of beta-amyloid in the cerebral vessels. CAA is highly comorbid with Alzheimer’s disease and on its own promotes vascular cognitive impairment and dementia. Here, we compared the cognitive function of reproductively naive female C67BL/6J (wild-type control strain) mice to sexually naive Tg-SwDI (transgenic mouse model of CAA) and reproductively experienced Tg-SwDI female mice at 8-12 months of age. Whereas wildtype mice outperformed sexually naive transgenic mice in two tests of spatial memory, the Object Placviement Test and the Barnes maze, the performance of reproductively experienced Tg-SwDI females more closely resembled the naive C57BL/6J females than the naive TgSwDI females. These data suggest that reproductive/maternal experience attenuates cognitive impairment in a transgenic mouse model of dementia.
Faculty Sponsors
Dr. Lisa Robinson, Dr. Mary (Allie) Holschbach
Project Type
Event
Location
Alvin Sherman Library
Start Date
4-3-2024 12:30 PM
End Date
4-4-2024 1:30 PM
Reproductive Experience Protects Against Cognitive Decline in a Mouse Model of Dementia
Alvin Sherman Library
Dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, are devastating conditions lacking safe and effective treatments. Despite the striking sex/gender difference in the prevalence of dementia, few studies have investigated sex-specific factors that may influence the greater risk and faster progression of disease in females. These factors include but are not limited to prior pregnancy and motherhood. Women with children have slower rates of cognitive decline and lower risk for developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia than women with no children. However, other studies have reported mixed results, suggesting that the influence of reproductive/maternal experience may depend on an individual’s number of children and/or their geographical location. Therefore, controlled studies in animal models are needed to determine causality and mechanisms driving this relationship. One common pathological contributor to dementia is cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), the accumulation of beta-amyloid in the cerebral vessels. CAA is highly comorbid with Alzheimer’s disease and on its own promotes vascular cognitive impairment and dementia. Here, we compared the cognitive function of reproductively naive female C67BL/6J (wild-type control strain) mice to sexually naive Tg-SwDI (transgenic mouse model of CAA) and reproductively experienced Tg-SwDI female mice at 8-12 months of age. Whereas wildtype mice outperformed sexually naive transgenic mice in two tests of spatial memory, the Object Placviement Test and the Barnes maze, the performance of reproductively experienced Tg-SwDI females more closely resembled the naive C57BL/6J females than the naive TgSwDI females. These data suggest that reproductive/maternal experience attenuates cognitive impairment in a transgenic mouse model of dementia.
