Effects of chemokine CCL2 on learning memory in rats and its mechanisms / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Aim To investigate the role of chemokine CC motif ligand 2(CCL2) in leaning memory of rats and its mechanisms. Methods Forty male SD rats were randomly divided into five groups, namely, control, sham, CCL2(0.5, 5, 50 ng) group. Except control group, stereotaxic technique was used in this study to perform bilateral hippocampal injection. Mor-ris water maze ( MWM ) was employed to assess the learning and memory ability of rats from day 3 to day 8. Hippocampus was removed on the 10th day. qPCR was used to detect the relative mRNA expression of caspase-8, caspase-3 and phosphate-activated glutami-nase(PAG). ELISA was used to calculate the content of tumor necrosis factor a ( TNF- A ) , acetylcholine (AChE) and the activity of glutamine synthetase (GS). Results Compared to sham group, the latency and swimming distance in each CCL2-treated group were significantly extended, and the crossing times and the percentage of distance in target quadrant of each CCL2-treated group were shorter; the relative mRNA expression of caspase-8, caspase-3 and PAG in each CCL2-treated group were higher than those of sham group; each CCL2-treated group had elevated expression of TNF-a and AChE while the activity of GS in each group decreased. Conclusions CCL2 can impair learning and memory in rats, which may involve in-flammation, excitotoxicity, decreased ACh expression and mediated cell apoptosis.