Optical clearing imaging reveals the transcranial photobiomodulation-induced clearance effects of β-amyloid in Alzheimer's disease mouse model
Silin Sun, 1 Dongyu Li,1 Yuening He,1 Hao Lin,1 Xiaomei Liu,1 Yating Deng, 1 Dan Zhu,1 Tingting Yu, 1
1 Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei, China
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, which dramatically reduces the quality of life and ultimately leads to death. However, there lacks effective treatment to AD. β-amyloid (Aβ) is considered as the hallmark of AD and builds up in the brain as AD progresses. Recently, investigations have indicated that photobiomodulation (PBM) can accelerate the efflux of Aβ from the brain through meningeal lymphatic system, therefore might contribute to the recovery of AD. Here, with the assistance of tissue optical clearing technique, we performed 3D imaging of brain to study the distribution of Aβ in AD mice, as well as the PBM-induced clearance of Aβ in different regions. Our results showed that, 1267-nm laser irradiation onto the mouse head could significantly reduce the concentration of Aβ in hippocampus and cortex in AD mice, and accelerated Aβ deposition in deep-cervical lymphatic nodes. Western Blot results also showed that the total content of Aβ in the brain of AD mice decreased after PBM, which was consistent with the imaging results. Furthermore, behavioral experiments show that PBM ameliorated short-term memory and spatial learning abilities of AD mice. Our pilot study suggests that transcranial PBM holds potential for improving AD, thus has significance in basic and clinical studies.
Speaker
Silin Sun
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei, China
China
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