title: Maternal separation exacerbates Alzheimer's disease-like behavioral and pathological changes in adult APPswe/PS1dE9 mice.
abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common neurodegenerative disorder that gradually destroys memory and cognitive abilities in the elderly, makes a huge emotional and economic burden on the patients and their families. The presence of senile plaques and the loss of cholinergic neurons in the brain are two neuropathological hallmarks of AD. Maternal separation (MS) is an animal paradigm designed to make early life stress. Studies on wild type rodents showed that MS could induce AD-like cognitive deficit and pathological changes. However, the effects of MS on AD susceptible population or AD animal models are still unclear. In the present study, male APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic mice were separated from dam and pups 3h per day from postnatal day 2 to day 21. After weaning, all animals were housed under normal conditions (4 mice per cage). At 9-month age, MWM tests were performed to evaluate the learning and memory abilities. Then the pathological changes in the brain were measured by histology staining. The results showed MS mice had more severe deficit of learning and memory. Compared to the control, there were more senile plaques in cortex and hippocampus, fewer cholinergic neurons in nucleus basalis of Meynert in MS mice. These results indicate that MS exacerbates Alzheimer's disease-like behavioral and pathological changes in APPswe/PS1dE9 mice.
authors: Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, 76# West Yanta Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China; Department of Emergency Surgery, Ankang City Central Hospital, 85# Jinzhou Street, Ankang, Shaanxi 725000, China.
authors: Jianjun
authors: J
authors: Hui
authors: Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, 76# West Yanta Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education of China, 76# West Yanta Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China. Electronic address: gaifeng.feng@mail.xjtu.edu.cn.
authors: Gaifeng
authors: G
authors: Feng
authors: Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, 76# West Yanta Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China; Department of Emergency Surgery, Ankang City Central Hospital, 85# Jinzhou Street, Ankang, Shaanxi 725000, China.
authors: Caifeng
authors: C
authors: Zheng
authors: Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, 76# West Yanta Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education of China, 76# West Yanta Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China.
authors: Hui
authors: H
authors: Jin
authors: Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, 76# West Yanta Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education of China, 76# West Yanta Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China.
authors: Ning
authors: N
authors: Jia
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D020532:Basal Nucleus of Meynert / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D059329:Cholinergic Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D018782:Maze Learning; D008568:Memory; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease (AD); Cholinergic neuron; Maternal separation(MS); Senile plaque