The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of astaxanthin (AST) on cognition function, inflammatory response and oxidative stress in vascular dementia (VD) mice. VD mice model was established by left unilateral common carotid arteries occlusion (LUCCAO). Following LUCCAO, AST was intragastrically administered for 30 days. Object recognition test and morris water maze test were used to evaluate cognitive function. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was performed to observe the hippocampal neuron structure. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit and bicinchoninic acid kit were respectively adopted to measure IL-1β and IL-4 protein expression and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) content in hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. AST improved the discrimination ability of VD mice. The escape latency and path length of VD mice treated with AST were dramatically reduced. Besides, AST 200 mg/kg enhanced crossing platform time and the number of times crossing the platform quadrant, and alleviated the morphological impairment in VD mice. Moreover, we found that AST inhibited IL-1β expression and MDA content, whereas promoted IL-4 expression and SOD activity in a dose-dependent manner. AST could improve cognitive impairment and hippocampal neurons in VD mice, which may be related to suppression of inflammatory response and oxidative stress.

中文翻译：

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虾青素保护血管性痴呆的认知功能

本研究的目的是评估虾青素（AST）对血管性痴呆（VD）小鼠认知功能、炎症反应和氧化应激的影响。采用左单侧颈总动脉闭塞术(LUCCAO)建立VD小鼠模型。LUCCAO后，胃内给予AST 30天。采用物体识别测试和莫里斯水迷宫测试评价认知功能。苏木精和伊红染色观察海马神经元结构。分别采用酶联免疫吸附测定试剂盒和二辛可宁酸试剂盒测定海马和前额叶皮层IL-1β、IL-4蛋白表达量以及超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)活性和丙二醛(MDA)含量。AST提高了VD小鼠的辨别能力。用 AST 治疗的 VD 小鼠的逃避潜伏期和路径长度显着缩短。此外，AST 200 mg/kg可增加穿越平台时间和穿越平台象限的次数，并减轻VD小鼠的形态损伤。此外，我们发现AST以剂量依赖性方式抑制IL-1β表达和MDA含量，而促进IL-4表达和SOD活性。AST可以改善VD小鼠的认知障碍和海马神经元，这可能与抑制炎症反应和氧化应激有关。