title: The increased potassium intake improves cognitive performance and attenuates histopathological markers in a model of Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by hallmarks that include an accumulation of amyloid-β peptide (Aβ), inflammation, oxidative stress and synaptic dysfunction, which lead to a decrease in cognitive function. To date, the onset and progression of AD have been associated with pathologies such as hypertension and diabetes. Hypertension, a disease with a high incidence worldwide, is characterized by a chronic increase in blood pressure. Interestingly, this disease has a close relationship to the eating behavior of patients because high Na(+) intake is a significant risk factor for hypertension. In fact, a decrease in Na(+) consumption, along with an increase in K(+) intake, is a primary non-pharmacological approach to preventing hypertension. In the present work, we examined whether an increase in K(+) intake affects the expression of certain neuropathological markers or the cognitive performance of a murine model of AD. We observed that an increase in K(+) intake leads to a change in the aggregation pattern of the Aβ peptide, a partial decrease in some epitopes of tau phosphorylation and improvement in the cognitive performance. The recovery in cognitive performance was correlated with a significant improvement in the generation of long-term potentiation. We also observed a decrease in markers related to inflammation and oxidative stress such as glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE). Together, our data support the idea that changes in diet, such as an increase in K(+) intake, may be important in the prevention of AD onset as a non-pharmacological therapy.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Envejecimiento y Regeneración (CARE), Departamento de Bioloía Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cisternas
authors.affiliation: Centro de Envejecimiento y Regeneración (CARE), Departamento de Bioloía Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Carolina B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Lindsay
authors.affiliation: Centro de Envejecimiento y Regeneración (CARE), Departamento de Bioloía Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Paulina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salazar
authors.affiliation: Centro de Envejecimiento y Regeneración (CARE), Departamento de Bioloía Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Silva-Alvarez
authors.affiliation: Centro de Envejecimiento y Regeneración (CARE), Departamento de Bioloía Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Rocio M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Retamales
authors.affiliation: Centro de Envejecimiento y Regeneración (CARE), Departamento de Bioloía Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Felipe G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Serrano
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Carlos P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Vio
authors.affiliation: Centro de Envejecimiento y Regeneración (CARE), Departamento de Bioloía Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Centro UC Síndrome de Down, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Centro de Excelencia en Biomedicina de Magallanes (CEBIMA), Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile. Electronic address: ninestrosa@bio.puc.cl.
authors.forename: Nibaldo C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Inestrosa
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Hypertension; Potassium intake; Synaptic dysfunction