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An unexpected improvement in spatial learning and memory ability in alpha-synuclein A53T transgenic mice

  • Neurology and Preclinical Neurological Studies - Original Article
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Abstract

Growing evidence suggests, as Parkinson’s disease (PD) progresses, that its non-motor symptoms appear prior to or in parallel with its motor deficits. Alpha-synuclein A53T transgenic mouse (A53T) is an essential tool to investigate the onsets and the extents of PD non-motor symptoms. Our aim is to investigate spatial learning and memory ability in A53T mice. In our rotarod tests, no motor coordination impairments were detected in mice of 3, 6, 9, and 12 months old. We then investigated their spatial learning and memory ability through Morris water maze in 3- and 9-month-old mice. No significant difference in escape latency was detected among the A53T mice and the control mice. However, an unexpected improvement in spatial learning and memory ability was observed in the probe session among the A53T mice. Reversal learning by Morris water maze also indicated that 3- and 9-month-old A53T mice exhibited a better cognitive flexibility compared to their littermate controls. Further studies by western blots showed that alpha-synuclein expressions in hippocampus of the A53T mice were noticeably up-regulated. The immunofluorescence staining of 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (Brdu) and doublecortin (DCX) demonstrated that neither the Brdu-positive neurons nor the Brdu/DCX positive neurons in hippocampus were significantly altered between the two groups. These results suggest that our A53T mice exhibit improved spatial learning and memory ability prior to their motor coordination deficits. These results are not induced by neurogenesis in the hippocampus.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 81671249), China Postdoctoral Foundation (Grant no. 2015M580572), and Postdoctoral Foundation of Shandong Province and Qingdao city (Grant nos. 201502012, 2015156). The authors declared that no competing interests exist.

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Author notes

  1. Qi Liu and YuYu Xu have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medicine, Qingdao University, Room 423, Boya Building, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Qi Liu, YuYu Xu, WenPing Wan & ZeGang Ma

  2. Institute of Brain Science and Disorders, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China

    ZeGang Ma

Authors
  1. Qi Liu
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  2. YuYu Xu
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  3. WenPing Wan
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  4. ZeGang Ma
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Contributions

All the authors mentioned above participated in this work. QL, YX, and WP performed research, QL, YX, and ZM analyzed data. ZM designed research and wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to ZeGang Ma.

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Liu, Q., Xu, Y., Wan, W. et al. An unexpected improvement in spatial learning and memory ability in alpha-synuclein A53T transgenic mice. J Neural Transm 125, 203–210 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-017-1819-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-017-1819-3

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