Porcine placental extract facilitates memory and learning in aged mice

Abstract

Aging induces a decline in both memory and learning ability without predisposing an individual to diseases of the central nervous system, such as dementia. This decline can have a variety of adverse effects on daily life, and it can also gradually affect the individual and the people they are surrounded by. Since recent evidence indicated that placental extract has effects on brain function such as memory, we hypothesized that placental extract could ameliorate the age‐associated reduction in cognitive function in aging. Here, we investigated the effect of new modified porcine placental extract (SD‐F) on memory ability in aged mice at both the behavioral and molecular levels. Our results revealed that SD‐F significantly enhanced memory ability in the object recognition and object location tasks in a dose‐dependent manner in aged mice relative to controls. The numbers of Nissl‐positive cells in the hippocampal cornu ammonis 3 (CA3) and dentate gyrus (DG) regions were increased in SD‐F‐treated aged mice relative to controls. RNA‐seq analysis of the hippocampus of aged mice identified 542 differentially expressed genes, of which 216 were up‐regulated and 326 were down‐regulated in SD‐F‐treated mice relative to controls. Of the 216 up‐regulated genes, we identified four characteristic genes directly related to memory, including early growth response protein 1 (Egr1), growth arrest and DNA‐damage‐inducible, beta (Gadd45b), NGFI‐A binding protein 2 (Nab2), and vascular endothelial growth factor a (Vegfa). These results suggest that the efficacy of SD‐F involves upregulation of these genes.

Horse Placental Extract Enhances Neurogenesis in the Presence of Amyloid β

“…Previous studies of porcine placental extract showed that doses of 242 and 2424 mg/kg/day extract were administered via gavage to 5XFAD mice [ 3 ]. Another study on porcine placental extract in aged mice indicated that the effective doses of the extract were 1000 and 5000 mg/kg/day [ 2 ]. Therefore, we set the feeding doses for the present study as 0.03% and 3%, which are almost equal to 50 mg/kg/day and 5000 mg/kg/day, respectively, because the average daily feeding amount was 5 g.…”

“…A previous report on porcine placental extract in chronically stressed and ovariectomized mice demonstrated protection against a decline in neuronal number in the hippocampal CA3 region [ 1 ]. Another study using porcine placental extract showed no change in neuronal numbers in the hippocampus after extract treatment in aged mice, although memory deficits were recovered [ 2 ]. These previous reports suggest a neuroprotective effect of the placental extract.…”

“…In chronically stressed and ovariectomized mice, treatment with porcine placental extract for 5 weeks protected against memory decline and neuronal death [ 1 ]. Our previous study indicated that the administration of porcine placental extract for 4 weeks facilitated memory functioning in aged (76 weeks old) mice [ 2 ]. We also previously reported that the administration of either human placental extract or porcine placental extract for 15 days significantly improved memory disorder in a 5XFAD mouse model of post-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD) [ 3 ].…”

The Effect of Early Maternal Separation Combined With Adolescent Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress on Behavior and Synaptic Plasticity in Adult Female Rats

“…Nissl staining is often used to detect the activity of neurons and impairment of neurons would lead to the reduction of Nissl bodies ( 41 , 42 ). A small amount of Nissl positive cells was found in the hippocampus of rats underwent MS as well as CUMS.…”

Placental extract suppresses the formation of fibrotic deposits by tumor necrosis factor alpha and transforming growth factor beta-induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition in ARPE-19 cells

“…Total RNA was extracted from ARPE-19 cells using TRI Reagent (TR118, MRC, OH, USA) and cDNA was synthesized using the PrimeScript RT reagent Kit with gDNA Eraser (Takara Bio Inc., Japan). qPCR was performed as previously described [ 16 ]. The primer sequences are listed in Additional file 1 : Table S1.…”