Effects of hCG on reduced numbers of hCG receptors in the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum of rat models of Alzheimer’s disease

ABSTRACT

Age-associated changes in the levels of luteinizing hormone and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) are potential risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD); hCG concentration is related to the incidence of AD. The highest density of hCG receptors is in zones of the brain that are vulnerable to AD and streptozotocin (STZ) can decrease the density of this receptor. We investigated the effects of different doses of hCG on hCG receptor density in the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum in a rat model of STZ-induced AD. AD was induced by intracerebroventricular injection of 3 mg/kg STZ. The resulting AD rats were treated for 3 days with 50, 100 or 200 IU/200 μl hCG, or with saline as a control. Sections of prefrontal cortex and cerebellum were stained immunohistochemically and hCG receptor-immunoreactive (ir) neurons were counted. STZ injected into the lateral ventricles of rat brains reduced the density of hCG receptor-ir neurons in the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum. hCG administration resulted in a significant dose-dependent increase in the number of hCG receptor-ir neurons in the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum. The maximum increase in the number of receptors occurred following the 200 IU dose of hCG. Administration of hCG ameliorated the lowered density of hCG receptor-ir neurons in the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex in STZ-induced AD rats.

KEYWORDS:

• Cerebellum
• hCG receptor
• human chorionic gonadotropin
• prefrontal cortex
• streptozotocin

Acknowledgment

The authors thank the Neuroscience Research Center for assistance with the histological material.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Deputy of Research and Technology, Golestan University of Medical Sciences (Gorgan, Iran) under Grant number 9412299790.