Search

Exposure to hypobaric hypoxia causes neuron cell damage, resulting in impaired cognitive function. Effective interventions to antagonize hypobaric hypoxia-induced memory impairment are in urgent need. Ketogenic diet (KD) has been successfully used to treat drug-resistant epilepsy and improves cognitive behaviors in epilepsy patients and other pathophysiological animal models. In the present study, we aimed to explore the potential beneficial effects of a KD on memory impairment caused by hypobaric hypoxia and the underlying possible mechanisms. We showed that the KD recipe used was ketogenic and increased plasma levels of ketone bodies, especially β-hydroxybutyrate. The results of the behavior tests showed that the KD did not affect general locomotor activity but obviously promoted spatial learning. Moreover, the KD significantly improved the spatial memory impairment caused by hypobaric hypoxia (simulated altitude of 6000 m, 24 h). In addition, the improving-effect of KD was mimicked by intraperitoneal injection of BHB. The western blot and immunohistochemistry results showed that KD treatment not only increased the acetylated levels of histone H3 and histone H4 compared to that of the control group but also antagonized the decrease in the acetylated histone H3 and H4 when exposed to hypobaric hypoxia. Furthermore, KD-hypoxia treatment also promoted PKA/CREB activation and BDNF protein expression compared to the effects of hypoxia alone. These results demonstrated that KD is a promising strategy to improve spatial memory impairment caused by hypobaric hypoxia, in which increased modification of histone acetylation plays an important role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manganese (Mn) exposure can affect brain development. Whether Selenium (Se) can protect neonates against neurotoxicity from Mn exposure remains unclear. We investigated this issue in 933 mother-newborn pairs in Shanghai, China, from 2008 through 2009. Umbilical cord serum concentrations of Mn and Se were measured and Neonatal Behavioral Neurological Assessment (NBNA) tests were conducted. The scores <37 were defined as the low NBNA. The median concentrations of cord serum Mn and Se were 4.0 µg/L and 63.1 µg/L, respectively. After adjusting for potential confounders, the interaction between Se and Mn was observed. Cord blood Mn levels had different effects on NBNA scores stratified by different cord blood Se levels. With Se