Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a very common neurodegenerative disorder. Although a majority of the AD cases are sporadic, most of the studies are conducted using transgenic models. Intracerebroventricular (ICV) administered streptozotocin (STZ) animals have been used to explore mechanisms in sporadic AD. In this study, we have investigated memory and neurometabolism of ICV-STZ-administered C57BL6/J mice. The neuronal and astroglial metabolic activity was measured in 1H-[13C]-NMR spectrum of cortical and hippocampal tissue extracts of mice infused with [1,6-13C2]glucose and [2-13C]acetate, respectively. STZ-administered mice exhibited reduced (p = 0.00002) recognition index for memory. The levels of creatine, GABA, glutamate and NAA were reduced (p ≤ 0.04), while that of myo-inositol was increased (p < 0.05) in STZ-treated mice. There was a significant (p ≤ 0.014) reduction in aspartate-C3, glutamate-C4/C3, GABA-C2 and glutamine-C4 labeling from [1,6-13C2]glucose. This resulted in decreased rate of glucose oxidation in the cerebral cortex (0.64 ± 0.05 vs. 0.77 ± 0.05 µmol/g/min, p = 0.0008) and hippocampus (0.60 ± 0.04 vs. 0.73 ± 0.07 µmol/g/min, p = 0.001) of STZ-treated mice, due to similar reductions of glucose oxidation in glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons. Additionally, reduced glutamine-C4 labeling points towards compromised synaptic neurotransmission in STZ-treated mice. These data suggest that the ICV-STZ model exhibits neurometabolic deficits typically observed in AD, and its utility in understanding the mechanism of sporadic AD.
Keywords: Cerebral metabolic rate; GABA; glutamate; glutamine; neurotransmission.