Effect of Moxibustion on Behavioral Changes and Expression of APP and BACE1 in Hippocampus of SAMP8 Mice

Age-related miRNAs dysregulation and abnormal BACE1 expression following Pb exposure in adolescent mice

Numbers of emerging evidence suggest that lead (Pb) exposure contributes to cognitive decline and might also increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia in the elderly by increasing the beta-amyloid burden. Here, we aimed to characterize the effects of Pb on the post-transcriptional regulators, microRNAs (miRNAs), which may participate in AD pathogenesis. At first, early chronic Pb exposure on neuronal miRNAs expression with increasing aging was profiled to elucidate the association of three selected miRNAs with β-site APP-cleaving enzyme 1(BACE1), a rate-limiting enzyme for β-amyloid (Aβ) production. Next, we verified changes in BACE1 were observed by regulating miRNAs expression in vitro. While Pb promoted BACE1 levels, BACE1 levels were reduced in SH-SY5Y cells with miR-124-3p mimic, suggesting for the first time that miR-124-3p/BACE1 pathway modulation is critically involved in Pb-induced AD-like amyloidogenic processing. Findings from this study could provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms of Pb-associated neurodegenerative pathogenesis from an epigenetic perspective.

Efficacy and Mechanism of Moxibustion Treatment on Mild Cognitive Impairment Patients: An fMRI Study Using ALFF

Background

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), as a high risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), represents a state of cognitive function between normal aging and dementia. Moxibustion may effectively delay the progression of AD, while there is a lack of studies on the treatments in MCI. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of moxibustion treatment revealed by the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in MCI.

Method

We enrolled 30 MCI patients and 30 matched healthy controls (HCs) in this study. We used ALFF to compare the difference between MCI and HCs at baseline and the regulation of spontaneous neural activity in MCI patients by moxibustion. The Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores were used to evaluate cognitive function.

Results

Compared with HCs, the ALFF values significantly decreased in the right temporal poles: middle temporal gyrus (TPOmid), right inferior temporal gyrus, left middle cingulate gyrus, and increased in the left hippocampus, left middle temporal gyrus, right lingual gyrus, and right middle occipital gyrus in MCI patients. After moxibustion treatment, the ALFF values notably increased in the left precuneus, left thalamus, right temporal poles: middle temporal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, right inferior temporal gyrus, right putamen, right hippocampus, and right fusiform gyrus, while decreased in the bilateral lingual gyrus in MCI patients. The Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores increased after moxibustion treatment, and the increase in Mini-Mental State Examination score was positively correlated with the increase of ALFF value in the right TPOmid, the right insula, and the left superior temporal gyrus.

Conclusion

Moxibustion treatment might improve the cognitive function of MCI patients by modulating the brain activities within the default mode network, visual network, and subcortical network with a trend of increased ALFF values and functional asymmetry of the hippocampus. These results indicate that moxibustion holds great potential in the treatment of MCI.