All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) prevents lipopolysaccharide-induced neuroinflammation, amyloidogenesis and memory impairment in aged rats

Abstract

We aimed to investigate preventive effects of All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) on a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced aged neuroinflammation model. We analyzed behavior, systemic nitric oxide (NO) production, cerebral NO synthase (NOS2) and β-amyloid (Aβ) 1-42 expression and tissue integrity in the neuroinflammation model pretreated with ATRA (150μg/ml/rat/day) for 30days. Our results showed that LPS treatment (500μg/kg/day) for 7days disturbed memory, enhanced systemic NO production, NOS2 and Aβ 1-42 cerebral expression and generated an Alzheimer's disease (AD)-like neuronal degeneration. Interestingly, ATRA pretreatment prevented the LPS-induced deleterious effects. ATRA could be a potent preventive approach in AD.

Keywords: Aging; All-trans retinoic acid; Alzheimer's disease; Inducible nitric oxide synthase; Neuroinflammation.