RESUMO
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by cognitive impairment. It is common in the elderly. Etiologically, dysfunction of cholinergic neurotransmitter system is prominent in AD. However, disease modifying drug for AD is still unavailable. We hypothesized that krill oil and modified krill oil containing 20 % lysophosphatidylcholine-docosahexaenoic acid (LPC-DHA, LPC20K) could play a crucial role in AD by improving cognitive functions measured by several behavioral tests. We found that LPC20K could ameliorate short-term, long-term, spatial, and object recognition memory under cholinergic hypofunction states. To find the underlying mechanism involved in the effect of LPC20K on cognitive function, we investigated changes of signaling molecules using Western blotting. Expression levels of protein kinase C zeta (PKCζ) and postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD-95), and phosphorylation levels of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase ⠡ (CaMK⠡), and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) were significantly increased in LPC20K-administered group compared to those in the memory impairment group. Moreover, the expression levels of BDNF were temporally increased especially 6 or 9 h after administration of LPC20K compared with the control group. These results suggest that LPC20K could ameliorate memory impairment caused by hypocholinergic state by enhancing the expression levels of PKCζ and PSD-95, and phosphorylation levels of ERK, CaMK⠡ and CREB and increasing BDNF expression levels. Therefore, LPC20K could be used as a dietary supplement against cognitive impairment observed in diseases such as AD with a hypocholinergic state.