Behavioural effects and regulation of PKCα and MAPK by huprine X in middle aged mice

The behavioural effects of huprine X, a new anticholinesterasic inhibitor, as well as its effects on the regulation of protein kinase C (PKC), mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) and α-secretase (ADAM10 and TACE/ADAM17) related to amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing remain to be established. In the present work, 12 month old 126/Sv × C57b/6 male mice which received chronic i.p. treatment with either saline, huprine X (0.04 µmol kg−1) or huprine X (0.12 µmol kg−1), were submitted to a battery of behavioural tests and thereafter the brains were dissected to study the neurochemical effects induced by huprine X. The results show that, in a dose dependent manner, huprine X facilitates learning and memory in the Morris water maze and improves some indicators of emotionality without inducing adverse effects, affecting motor activity nor anxiety-like behaviours, as measured in the open-field and corner tests. Moreover activation of downstream PKC/MAPK signaling pathways may underly these behavioural effects as well as the stimulation of the non-amyloidogenic processing of APP. Results obtained herein using a sample of aged animals strongly suggest that huprine X constitutes a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of cholinergic dysfunction underlying aging and/or dementias.