d-Aspartic acid ameliorates painful and neuropsychiatric changes and reduces β-amyloid Aβ

Depressive symptoms and other neuropsychiatric dysfunctions are common in neurodegenerative disorders, including chronic pain and dementia. A correlation between the β-amyloid protein accumulation and the development of depression has been suggested, however the underlying mechanisms are unknown. d-Aspartate (d-Asp) is a free d-amino acid found in the mammalian brain and involved in neurological and psychiatric processes, such as cognition and affective disorders. In this study we have investigated the effects of a repeated treatment with d-Asp in a long-lasting (12 months) model of neuropathic pain, the spared nerve injury (SNI), in mice. Specifically, we evaluated i) the pain sensitivity and related emotional/cognitive dysfunctions induced by SNI, ii) possible changes in the β-amyloid protein accumulation in specific brain regions involved in pain mechanisms ii) possible changes in steroids level in neuropathic animals with or without d-Asp in the same brain areas. SNI mice showed an increase of the insoluble form of Aβ