| Abstract [eng] |
Age-related cognitive impairment, particularly dementia, is becoming an increasing public health challenge, currently affecting around 55 million people worldwide and is projected to triple by 2050. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which is characterized by the pathological accumulation of amyloid-beta and tau proteins in the brain. However, no effective cure for this and other age-related cognitive impairments have been developed, which makes it necessary to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms of these diseases and continue research related to discovery of new therapeutic tools. One of the most important approches to study memory impairments, analyze behavioral, physiological, and molecular changes in a living system is use of experimental animal models. The aim of this Master’s thesis is to compare different animal models of memory impairment. The objectives of the project were: to assess memory impairment in the transgenic APP/PS1 mice model; to induce memory impairment in Wistar rats using trihexyphenidyl (THP) injections and; to determine age-related memory impairment in healthy Wistar rats. Locomotor activity was studied to see if memory impairment was affected by this behavioural change. Two behavioural tests – the open field test and the novel object recognition test – designed to investigate locomotor activity and cognitive abilities (recognition, short-term memory, exploratory behaviour), were used to assess animal behavior in each model. The genetic model using APP/PS1 transgenic mice did not show any significant impairment in the recognition memory but showed a tendency towards a lower preference for the novel object when compared to wild-type mice. Locomotor activity of these mice did not differ from wild-type mice. Neither a single injection nor 21 once-daily THP injections had a significant effect on shortterm memory and locomotor activity in rats. Analysis of age-related changes showed reduced locomotor activity in older (22-month-old) rats, however, there were no significant changes in short-term memory between age groups. |
