Hormones and behavior
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Hormones and behavior · Jul 2015
Leptin attenuates the detrimental effects of β-amyloid on spatial memory and hippocampal later-phase long term potentiation in rats.
β-Amyloid (Aβ) is the main component of amyloid plaques developed in the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The increasing burden of Aβ in the cortex and hippocampus is closely correlated with memory loss and cognition deficits in AD. Recently, leptin, a 16kD peptide derived mainly from white adipocyte tissue, has been appreciated for its neuroprotective function, although less is known about the effects of leptin on spatial memory and synaptic plasticity. ⋯ We found that chronically intracerebroventricular injection of leptin (1μg) effectively alleviated Aβ1-42 (20μg)-induced spatial memory impairments of Y maze spontaneous alternation and Morris water maze. In addition, chronic administration of leptin also reversed Aβ1-42-induced suppression of in vivo hippocampal L-LTP in rats. Together, these results suggest that chronic leptin treatments reversed Aβ-induced deficits in learning and memory and the maintenance of L-LTP.