Combined Treatment With Environmental Enrichment and (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Ameliorates Learning Deficits and Hippocampal Alterations in a Mouse Model of Down Syndrome

Catuara Solarz, Silvina, 1986-Espinosa-Carrasco, JoséErb, IonasLangohr, KlausGonzalez, Juan RamonNotredame, CedricDierssen, Mara2017-04-242017-04-242016Catuara-Solarz S, Espinosa-Carrasco J, Erb I, Langohr K, Gonzalez JR, Notredame C et al. Combined Treatment With Environmental Enrichment and (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Ameliorates Learning Deficits and Hippocampal Alterations in a Mouse Model of Down Syndrome. eNeuro. 2016;3(5):ENEURO.0103-16.2016. DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0103-16.20162373-2822http://hdl.handle.net/10230/30883Intellectual disability in Down syndrome (DS) is accompanied by altered neuro-architecture, deficient synaptic plasticity, and excitation-inhibition imbalance in critical brain regions for learning and memory. Recently, we have demonstrated beneficial effects of a combined treatment with green tea extract containing (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and cognitive stimulation in young adult DS individuals. Although we could reproduce the cognitive-enhancing effects in mouse models, the underlying mechanisms of these beneficial effects are unknown. Here, we explored the effects of a combined therapy with environmental enrichment (EE) and EGCG in the Ts65Dn mouse model of DS at young age. Our results show that combined EE-EGCG treatment improved corticohippocampal-dependent learning and memory. Cognitive improvements were accompanied by a rescue of cornu ammonis 1 (CA1) dendritic spine density and a normalization of the proportion of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic markers in CA1 and dentate gyrus.application/pdfengCopyright © 2016 Catuara-Solarz et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.Combined Treatment With Environmental Enrichment and (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Ameliorates Learning Deficits and Hippocampal Alterations in a Mouse Model of Down Syndromeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0103-16.2016(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallateDown syndromeEnvironmental enrichmentExitation-inhibitionImbalanceNeuroplasticityinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess