A 3-month-delayed treatment with anatabine improves chronic outcomes in two different models of repetitive mild traumatic brain injury in hTau mice

Sci Rep. 2021 Apr 12;11(1):7900. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-87161-7.

Abstract

To date, an overwhelming number of preclinical studies have addressed acute treatment in mild TBI (mTBI) and repetitive mTBI (r-mTBI), whereas, in humans, there often exists a significant time gap between the injury and the first medical intervention. Our study focused on a delayed treatment with anatabine, an anti-inflammatory compound, in hTau mice using two different models of r-mTBI. The rationale for using two models of the same impact but different frequencies (5 hit mTBI over 9 days and 24 hit mTBI over 90 days) was chosen to address the heterogeneity of r-mTBI in clinical population. Following the last injury in each model, three months elapsed before the initiation of treatment. Anatabine was administered in drinking water for 3 months thereafter. Our data demonstrated that a 3-month delayed treatment with anatabine mitigated astrogliosis in both TBI paradigms but improved cognitive functions only in more-frequently-injured mice (24 hit mTBI). We also found that anatabine decreased the phosphorylation of tau protein and NFκB, which were increased after r-mTBI in both models. The ability of anatabine to suppress these mechanisms suggests that delayed treatment can be effective for clinical population of r-mTBI. The discrepancy between the two models with regard to changes in cognitive performance suggests that r-mTBI heterogeneity may influence treatment efficiency and should be considered in therapeutic development.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Alkaloids / pharmacology
  • Alkaloids / therapeutic use*
  • Animals
  • Brain Injuries, Traumatic / drug therapy*
  • Cerebral Cortex / pathology
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Female
  • Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Memory / drug effects
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Models, Biological
  • Motor Activity / drug effects
  • NF-kappa B / metabolism
  • Pyridines / pharmacology
  • Pyridines / therapeutic use*
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects
  • Treatment Outcome
  • alpha7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor / agonists
  • alpha7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor / metabolism
  • tau Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • Alkaloids
  • Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein
  • NF-kappa B
  • Pyridines
  • alpha7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor
  • tau Proteins
  • anatabine