Predictable hematological markers associated with cognitive decline in valid rodent models of cognitive impairment

Endogenous (hyperglycemia) and exogenous (therapeutic, prophylactic, street drugs) factors can considerably contribute to cognitive impairment (CI). Currently, there are few invasive and/or noninvasive markers that correlate with CI and those that do exist require expensive or invasive techniques to predict and accurately measure the cognitive decline. Therefore, we sought to determine hematological markers as predictors of CI in two different chemically induced valid rodent models of CI (streptozotocin induced hyperglycemic model and chemotherapy [doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide] treated rodent model). Hematological markers were analyzed in the above rodent models of CI CI and compared to their respective control groups. There was a significant increase in creatinine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in the chemotherapy group. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin, creatinine and glucose levels were significantly increased in the streptozotocin group. Interestingly, triglycerides were significantly elevated in both the streptozotocin and chemotherapy groups. Previous studies with human subjects have shown a potential link between the increase in triglyceride levels and CI. Likewise, our data indicate a notable correlation with an increase in triglycerides to cognitive impairment in the rodent models. This suggests elevated levels of triglycerides could prove to be a potential noninvasive hematological marker for the increased risk of CI. Further studies are warranted to determine the causal relationship between elevated triglyceride levels and CI.