A Window to the Brain: The Retina to Monitor the Progression and Efficacy of Saffron Repron® Pre-Treatment in an LPS Model of Neuroinflammation and Memory Impairment

Abstract

A mechanism shared by most neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD), is neuroinflammation. It has been shown to have a link between cognitive impairment and retinal function under neuroinflammatory conditions, confirming the essential role of the retina as a window to the brain. Here, we characterize a mouse model of LPS-induced neuroinflammation describing the parallel deterioration of both memory and visual function. Then, we demonstrate, using the Novel Object Recognition test (NOR) and electroretinogram (ERG) recordings, that preventive, chronic treatment with saffron Repron® is able to reduce the neuroinflammation process and prevent the impairment of both cognitive and visual function. The improvement in behavioral and visual function is confirmed by the pattern of expression of neuroinflammation-related genes and related proteins where pre-treatment with Repron® saffron presents a positive modulation compared with that obtained in animals treated with LPS alone. These results hold for retinal tissue and partially in the brain, where it appears that the onset of damage was delayed. This trend underlines the critical role of the retina as a most sensitive portion of the central nervous system to LPS-induced damage and could be used as a “sensor” for the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.