Effect of 40 Hz light flicker on cognitive impairment and transcriptome of hippocampus in right unilateral common carotid artery occlusion mice

Zhaorui Niu; Minjie Yu; Peixia Xu; Renchuan Liu; Shangda Li; Congchong Wu; Bochao Huang; Xinyi Ye; Jianbo Hu; Yi Xu; Shaojia Lu

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-48897-6

Effect of 40 Hz light flicker on cognitive impairment and transcriptome of hippocampus in right unilateral common carotid artery occlusion mice

Sci Rep. 2023 Dec 4;13(1):21361. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-48897-6.

Authors

Zhaorui Niu^#¹, Minjie Yu^#¹, Peixia Xu¹, Renchuan Liu², Shangda Li¹, Congchong Wu¹, Bochao Huang^{1

2}, Xinyi Ye¹, Jianbo Hu^{1

3

4

5}, Yi Xu^{6

7

8

9

10}, Shaojia Lu^{11

12

13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou, 310003, Zhejiang, China.
² Zhejiang Xinyue Health Consulting Service Medical Institution, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
³ The Key Laboratory of Mental Disorder Management in Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
⁴ Brain Research Institute of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
⁵ Zhejiang Engineering Center for Mathematical Mental Health, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou, 310003, Zhejiang, China. xuyizju@zju.edu.cn.
⁷ The Key Laboratory of Mental Disorder Management in Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310003, China. xuyizju@zju.edu.cn.
⁸ Brain Research Institute of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China. xuyizju@zju.edu.cn.
⁹ Zhejiang Engineering Center for Mathematical Mental Health, Hangzhou, 310003, China. xuyizju@zju.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Zhejiang Xinyue Health Consulting Service Medical Institution, Hangzhou, 310003, China. xuyizju@zju.edu.cn.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou, 310003, Zhejiang, China. 1314004@zju.edu.cn.
¹² The Key Laboratory of Mental Disorder Management in Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310003, China. 1314004@zju.edu.cn.
¹³ Brain Research Institute of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China. 1314004@zju.edu.cn.
¹⁴ Zhejiang Engineering Center for Mathematical Mental Health, Hangzhou, 310003, China. 1314004@zju.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Vascular cognitive impairment caused by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) seriously affects the quality of life of elderly patients. However, there is no effective treatment to control this disease. This study investigated the potential neuroprotective effect of the 40 Hz light flicker in a mouse model of CCH. CCH was induced in male C57 mice by right unilateral common carotid artery occlusion (rUCCAO), leading to chronic brain injury. The mice underwent 40 Hz light flicker stimulation for 30 days after surgery. The results showed that 40 Hz light flicker treatment ameliorated memory deficits after rUCCAO and alleviated the damage to neurons in the frontal lobe and hippocampus. Light flicker administration at 40 Hz decreased IL-1β and TNF-α levels in the frontal lobe and hippocampus, but immunohistochemistry showed that it did not induce angiogenesis in mice with rUCCAO. Gene expression profiling revealed that the induction of genes was mainly enriched in inflammatory-related pathways. Our findings demonstrate that 40 Hz light flicker can suppress cognitive impairment caused by rUCCAO and that this effect may be involved in the attenuation of neuroinflammation.

MeSH terms

Aged
Animals
Brain Ischemia* / metabolism
Carotid Artery Diseases* / metabolism
Carotid Artery, Common / surgery
Cognitive Dysfunction* / etiology
Cognitive Dysfunction* / metabolism
Disease Models, Animal
Hippocampus / metabolism
Humans
Male
Maze Learning
Mice
Quality of Life
Transcriptome