Music compensates for altered gene expression in age-related cognitive disorders

Abstract

Extensive literature has explored the beneficial effects of music in age-related cognitive disorders (ACD), but limited knowledge exists regarding its impact on gene expression. We analyzed transcriptomes of ACD patients and healthy controls, pre-post a music session (n = 60), and main genes/pathways were compared to those dysregulated in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as revealed by a multi-cohort study (n = 1269 MCI/AD and controls). Music was associated with 2.3 times more whole-genome gene expression, particularly on neurodegeneration-related genes, in ACD than in controls. Co-expressed gene-modules and pathways analysis demonstrated that music impacted autophagy, vesicle and endosome organization, biological processes commonly dysregulated in MCI/AD. Notably, the data indicated a strong negative correlation between musically-modified genes/pathways in ACD and those dysregulated in MCI/AD. These findings highlight the compensatory effect of music on genes/biological processes affected in MCI/AD, providing insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the benefits of music on these disorders.

Art therapies and cognitive function in elderly with subjective cognitive decline: a protocol for a network meta-analysis

“…Music, as an artistic manifestation, offers a profound impact on the emotional, cognitive and physiological aspects of personal experiences. 36 Some studies have shown that music therapy has a positive impact on individuals with decreased cognitive function, helping improve objective and subjective cognitive functions, such as subjective memory function. 37 Reminiscence therapy is also one of the common methods used to improve cognitive function in the elderly, which helps stimulate autobiographical memory and simultaneously improve mental health.…”

Music elicits different gene expression responses in the buccal cavity of age-related cognitive disorders patients and healthy controls

“…The Ethics Committee of Xunta de Galicia approved the present project (Registration code: 2020/021), and the study was conducted in accordance to the guidelines of the Helsinki Declaration. We have followed the same experimental procedures described in Gómez-Carballa et al (2) and within the framework of the Sensogenomics project (http://sensogenomics.com). Briefly, we collected saliva samples at two timepoints: before and after an experimental concert of classical music; see Figure 1 of (2) for a schematic representation of the sampling and analysis procedures.…”

“…Recently, the exploratory study by Navarro et al (3) provided suggestive evidence of the potential impact of music in the context of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and reviewed the current evidence overall, concurring on the beneficial effect of music on neurodegenerative diseases. To the best of our knowledge, our most recent study, Gómez-Carballa et al (2), is the only attempt to date to examine the impact of music in a disease context, specifically in capillary blood samples collected from age-related cognitive disorder (ACD) patients. This study (2) found an increased effect of music in ACD patients compared to healthy controls, but most interestingly, it revealed that brief musical stimuli can modify the way patients express genes typically altered in this condition, but in the opposite direction.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, our most recent study, Gómez-Carballa et al (2), is the only attempt to date to examine the impact of music in a disease context, specifically in capillary blood samples collected from age-related cognitive disorder (ACD) patients. This study (2) found an increased effect of music in ACD patients compared to healthy controls, but most interestingly, it revealed that brief musical stimuli can modify the way patients express genes typically altered in this condition, but in the opposite direction.…”

“…Here, we propose exploring gene expression patterns in saliva obtained from ACD patients and healthy controls before and after brief musical stimuli. The samples analyzed in this study partially overlap with those used in Gómez-Carballa et al (2); and all of them were collected during the same experimental concerts. Therefore, this scenario offers a unique opportunity to evaluate the potential of saliva analysis in capturing expression changes triggered by music, and to undertake a comparative analysis with the capillary blood signatures reported in our previous study (2).…”