Long-term dantrolene treatment reduced intraneuronal amyloid in aged Alzheimer triple transgenic mice

In this study, we investigated the long-term treatment of dantrolene on amyloid and tau neuropathology, brain volume, and cognitive function in aged triple transgenic Alzheimer (3xTg-AD) mice. Fifteen-month old 3xTg-AD mice and wild-type controls were treated with oral dantrolene (5 mg/kg) or vehicle control twice a week for 6 months. Learning and memory were examined using the Morris Water Maze at 21 and 22 months of age. After the behavioral testing, hippocampal and cortical brain volumes were calculated with magnetic resonance imaging and motor function was evaluated using the rotorod. The amyloid burden and tau neurofibrillary tangles in the hippocampus were determined using immunohistochemistry. We found that dantrolene significantly decreased the intraneuronal amyloid accumulation by as much as 76% compared with its corresponding vehicle control, together with a trend to reduce phosphorylated tau in the hippocampus. No significant differences could be detected in hippocampal or cortical brain volume, motor function or cognition among all experimental groups, indicating that the mice were still presymptomatic for Alzheimer disease. Thus, presymptomatic and long-term dantrolene treatment significantly decreased the intraneuronal amyloid burden in aged 3xTg-AD mice before significant changes in brain volume, or cognition.