R01AG076835

Investigating the Interface of Epigenetics and Metabolism Underlying Memory Formation in the Adult, Aging, and AD Brain - Project Summary/Abstract

The ability to learn, consolidate, and retrieve information begins to decline with normal aging, a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia. In addition to aging, sedentary behavior ranks first in the US and third in the world as a risk factor for causing cognitive decline and exacerbating AD. Greater and accelerated rates of cognitive impairment in women with AD underscore the need for identifying the mechanisms by which exercise prevents cognitive decline in normal aging and AD in both sexes.

As observed by our labs and others, hippocampus-dependent learning is facilitated by exercise in situations that are usually subthreshold for encoding and memory consolidation and requires the induction of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Our data suggest that specific exercise patterns can engage a 'molecular memory' for that experience that persists through periods of sedentary behavior and enables a short exercise session to again induce hippocampal BDNF and facilitate memory.

We have proposed that epigenetic mechanisms mediate this "molecular memory" of exercise, as the epigenome represents a signal transduction platform that is capable of encoding past experience, current metabolic states (because nearly every epigenetic modification is a metabolite), and establishing stable changes in cell function that lead to long-term changes in behavior. Preliminary data in this proposal lead us to propose the novel hypothesis that specific patterns of exercise establish a molecular feedback loop that integrates rate-limiting aspects of acetyl-CoA metabolism and histone acetylation/methylation mechanisms to modulate gene expression required for long-term memory formation and synaptic plasticity.

Our goal in this proposal is to define, in aging wild type and 5XFAD female and male mice, the exercise parameters that establish a molecular memory, to investigate the effect of exercise on acetyl-CoA metabolic pathways and histone modifications, and to determine whether manipulations to this molecular feedback loop overcome deficiencies in synaptic plasticity and memory formation in aging and 5XFAD female and male mice. We propose three aims.

Aim 1 - Determine how specific exercise patterns affect synaptic plasticity and memory formation in aging wild type mice and 5XFAD mice.

Aim 2 - Determine the effect of exercise on acetyl-CoA metabolic pathways, histone modification, and gene expression in aging wild type mice and 5XFAD mice.

Aim 3 - Determine the effect of ameliorating hippocampal acetyl-CoA deficiencies in aging and 5XFAD mice on gene expression, synaptic plasticity, and memory formation.

Overall, successful completion of the research in this proposal will improve our understanding of how the epigenome integrates information from metabolism (acetyl-CoA dynamics) and experience (exercise), how this interplay becomes impaired with aging and in the context of AD, and how pharmacological modulation of acetyl-CoA dynamics may improve age- and AD-related cognitive dysfunction.

Irvine University Of California

TO ENCOURAGE BIOMEDICAL, SOCIAL, AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING DIRECTED TOWARD GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE AGING PROCESS AND THE DISEASES, SPECIAL PROBLEMS, AND NEEDS OF PEOPLE AS THEY AGE. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING HAS ESTABLISHED PROGRAMS TO PURSUE THESE GOALS. THE DIVISION OF AGING BIOLOGY EMPHASIZES UNDERSTANDING THE BASIC BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES OF AGING. THE DIVISION OF GERIATRICS AND CLINICAL GERONTOLOGY SUPPORTS RESEARCH TO IMPROVE THE ABILITIES OF HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS TO RESPOND TO THE DISEASES AND OTHER CLINICAL PROBLEMS OF OLDER PEOPLE. THE DIVISION OF BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL RESEARCH SUPPORTS RESEARCH THAT WILL LEAD TO GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE SOCIAL, CULTURAL, ECONOMIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT BOTH THE PROCESS OF GROWING OLD AND THE PLACE OF OLDER PEOPLE IN SOCIETY. THE DIVISION OF NEUROSCIENCE FOSTERS RESEARCH CONCERNED WITH THE AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM AS WELL AS THE RELATED SENSORY, PERCEPTUAL, AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH AGING AND HAS A SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM: TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SBIR PROGRAM; TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM: TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS; TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS; TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.

93.866 - Aging Research

National Institute on Aging (NIA) [HHS - NIH]

Irvine, California 926970001 United States

Single Zip Code

NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (PA-20-185)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 434% from $666,023 to $3,559,290.