Positive Effects of Probiotic Treatment on Spatial Cognitive Performance and Synaptic Plasticity in a β-amyloid rat model Amna Noor
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the presence of amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain. Recently, dysbiosis of gut microbiota has been implicated in etiology of various brain dysfunctions, including AD. Currently, there is no effective treatment to stop or slow down the progression of AD. As a result, therapeutic strategies focus on treating various behavioural and cognitive symptoms. The research conducted by Rezaei Asl, Sepehri and Salami (2019) addresses the lack of treatment and hypothesizes that supporting the gut microbiome with probiotics will reverse some of the negative effects of the dysbiosis. An animal model of AD was made by injecting β-amyloid intracerebroventricularly into male Wistar rats. The probiotic treatment was made up of encapsulated Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, and Bifidobacterium longum. The rats were further divided into five groups: rats that received water (Con), rats that received probiotics and water (Pro + Con), rats that received the injection (Alz), rats that received injection and probiotics (Alz + Pro), and rats that underwent sham surgery (Sham). Evaluation of different behavioural and electrophysiological aspects of AD via conducting a plethora of tests confirmed restoration of synaptic plasticity (LTP), enhancement of spatial cognitive performance, and an increase in antioxidant to oxidant ratio in rats that received the probiotic concoction. Therefore, the study served as evidence for a novel treatment of AD through probiotic support of gut microbiome. Keywords: Neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease, Alzheimer’s disease, long term potentiation, spatial memory, animal model, gut microbiota, dysbiosis, probiotics
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